Following the Kenyan midfielder's recent debut with Dunfermline Athletic, the rise and fall of Victor Wanyama has been quite the rollercoaster. The now-33-year-old announced his talents to the world during Celtic’s 2-1 Champions League victory against a prime Barcelona under Tito Villanova in 2012, where he famously headed in the Bhoys’ first goal of the tie.
His dominant displays earned him back-to-back Premier League moves, first to Southampton and then to Tottenham, where he looked right at home in the heart of England’s toughest midfield battles. But injuries proved to be his kryptonite at Hotspur Way, cutting short what could have been an enviable career at the top level. After 154 appearances in England’s top-flight, Wanyama took his talents to Montreal in 2020, slowly fading into the background.
Fast forward five years, and he's back in the United Kingdom. On March 26, 2025, Wanyama signed a short-term deal with Scottish Championship side Dunfermline Athletic, reuniting with former Celtic boss Neil Lennon in what many saw as a homecoming of sorts. But if he was hoping for a fairytale debut, reality had other plans - because just three days later, things went spectacularly off track.
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Victor Wanyama Produces One of the Worst Debuts in 3-0 Loss
He was sent off 19 minutes into his debut away to promotion-chasing Ayr United
Victor Wanyama
Coming off the bench with 26 minutes to go while his side were already 1-0 down against second in the league Ayr United was a tough ask for Wanyama in the first place, and any presumption that facing former Celtic teammate Scott Brown (who is now Ayr United's head coach) would help make the homecoming any easier was a false sense of optimism in the end.
Less than 20 minutes into his debut - one fans had hoped would inject some much-needed quality into their midfield, given his experience of winning five Scottish Premiership titles during his previous stint in Scotland - everything fell apart. The Kenyan international was sent off after a stumble led to a handball, leaving his debut in tatters. Watch the incident below:
Prior to Saturday’s match, Wanyama said, as per talkSPORT: “I'm a midfielder, so was the gaffer and I played with Scott Brown. Me and the gaffer playing against him, it's just a fairytale. So, I'm looking forward to it.
“My intention now is to try and help the club, to help them stay in the league. And then after that, we can sit down and discuss again.”
But with five matches remaining this season, it will take a considerable change of form to prevent relegation to the Scottish League One - a league they were promoted from in 2023 after winning the title. They currently sit in a relegation play-off spot but are only two points from safety following three consecutive defeats.