Jose Mourinho explains Victor Wanyama’s absence from his team selection

Jose Mourinho is enjoying life at Tottenham Hotspur having maintained his 100% record having beaten Bournemouth in North London yesterday.

The Portuguese has given some members of the Spurs squad another opportunity to impress after falling down the pecking order under Mauricio Pochettino, nobody more so than Eric Dier.

While Dier has started in each of Mourinho’s first three matches in charge of Spurs, Victor Wanyama has not been anywhere to be seen.

The Kenyan was reportedly close to a summer exit from the Champions League finalists with Club Brugge said to have agreed a £13million deal only for the transfer to fail to materialise (Standard).

Mourinho has insisted that the 28-year-old is currently not suffering from any issues but is currently lacking from match fitness.

The new head coach admitted that it is difficult at present for him to bring Wanyama into the fold when his focus is on trying to put a shape on his side and get them climbing the table.

“I know how good Victor is, I know he is not playing lately. Of course when you don’t play regularly you lose a little bit of that match condition,” Mourinho told Football.London.

“He is fit, he is fine, he has no physical problems at all. But one thing is to be fit and another is to be match fitness, match intensity, match pace.

“He needs to play and in this moment, in this phase – me just arriving and trying to organise a team and trying to a few good results – it is difficult to bring him to the team a player in this situation. The ideal situation was for him to play and then when he plays he will be back to what Victor is and Victor is a very good player.”

Related Topics