Southampton close to £12.5m deal for Celtic's Victor Wanyama

Posted Thursday, July 11, 2013 by theguardian.com

• Transfer will set a new Scottish record
• Midfielder likely to be unveiled on Friday

Southampton are putting the finishing touches to their £12.5m capture of Victor Wanyama from Celtic, which will represent a record transfer fee received by a Scottish club.

Wanyama, whom Celtic bought for £900,000 from the Belgian side Beerschot two years ago, had initially rebuffed the chance to move to St Mary's but speculated approaches from other Premier League sides never materialised.

Cardiff City were the only other club to lodge a bid for the Kenyan midfielder, which was rejected. Southampton plan to parade Wanyama as their latest capture on Friday after the player said his Celtic goodbyes on Thursday.

Wanyama had been removed from the Celtic squad for Tuesday night's 6-2 friendly loss to Greuther Fruth in Germany as he agreed the details of his long-term contract. The 22-year-old was one of Celtic's star performers as they reached the knockout phase of the Champions League last season but it was clear as soon as the campaign ended that Wanyama would move on.

Celtic could yet lose another of their most valuable playing assets, with Norwich City retaining a keen interest in the goalkeeper Fraser Forster. Should John Ruddy exit Norwich for Chelsea, Forster will feature prominently in the list of candidates to replace him.