Tottenham Victor Wanyama Signing Makes Premier League's Best Midfield Better

Tottenham Hotspur went closer than any other team to arresting Leicester City's runaway Premier League title win last season. 

Overcoming a slow start, in which they collected just three points from the opening four games, Spurs came within two wins of seizing the lead in the championship race but faltered in the final stages. The Foxes' fairytale held on. 

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was able to engineer that recovery and unlikely title tilt by constructing the Premier League's finest midfield. 

The perfectly balanced trio of Mousa Dembele, Eric Dier and Dele Alli dominated the division's midfields from the opening day. While the campaign began with a defeat at Old Trafford, there was no doubting that Manchester United's vaunted, and expensively assembled, midfield had been outplayed. 

Spurs finished with the equal-meanest defence in the league and the second-most prolific attack.

Toby Alderweireld's arrival and Harry Kane's impressive form have been linked with these achievements, but in truth, it was the strength of Tottenham's midfield that made them possible. 

Spurs have now fortified that position with the arrival of Southampton's Kenyan midfielder Victor Wanyama. The club confirmed the signing on Thursday evening after a strangely public transfer. The player himself was quoted by Soka25east.com as declaring the deal done during a visit to a Kenyan prison last week. 

Christopher Lee/Getty Images

Spurs have real needs in other areas of the pitch, namely finding a back-up forward for Kane, so it may seem strange that their first summer signing comes in an area of great strength. 

In fact, this deal underlines Pochettino's recognition of the importance of dominating midfield. Wanyama is not a like-for-like replacement or understudy for any member of Spurs' current squad but is a different kind of player. Stronger than Dembele, a more aggressive tackler than Dier and with energy comparable to the inexhaustible Alli, the Kenyan's arrival provides Pochettino with greater tactical flexibility. 

The limitations of Tottenham's reserve options were made painfully clear when Dembele was suspended for the final two games of last season and Ryan Mason was called upon to step into his role. The defeats against Southampton and Newcastle United that followed underlined the squad's fragility. That is no longer the case. 

Spurs also had a real problem with dropping points after taking the lead last season. With Wanyama available to be introduced from the substitutes' bench, that problem should be diminished. 

If the opposition, perhaps Antonio Conte's Chelsea, should provide a comparably strong midfield, Wanyama could be added to the starting lineup in order to ensure the balance remains in Spurs' favour. 

It should also facilitate, rather than threaten, Dier's emergence as one of the Premier League's pre-eminent defensive midfielders. 

Any observer of England's European Championship campaign will know that Dier has shone in his role as both the shield of the back line and progenitor of numerous attacks. The 22-year-old played 51 times for Spurs last season and has won 10 England caps since his debut in November last year. That is an unsustainable rate for a player in such a demanding role. 

Pochettino insists on rotation but was evidently underwhelmed by the alternatives available to him. The signing of Wanyama reduces the burden on Dier and should help stave off the otherwise inevitable burnout. 

Wanyama's disciplinary issues may appear as a concern. He was dismissed three times in the Premier League last season, but that was something of an aberration. In neither of his previous seasons in English football did he receive even one red card, while he was sent off twice in two years at Celtic. 

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Part of Wanyama's problem last season was the absence of midfield partner Morgan Schneiderlin, who was sold to Manchester United last summer. 

With Dier and Dembele alongside him, Wanyama can be expected to return to a relatively unblemished status at Tottenham. 

Wanyama will face his former Southampton boss, Ronald Koeman, now Everton manager, in the opening match of the new season when he starts alongside Dier at Goodison Park.

He will give Spurs greater strength, resilience and tactical flexibility. He'll make them harder to beat and more likely to win. He allows Pochettino to rotate more freely without sacrificing quality, and his on-field leadership can only add to their quality.