Victor Wanyama’s appearance in Saturday night’s Champions League final maybe both the pinnacle of his career and also his last game for Tottenham Hotspur.
Wanyama, the Kenyan captain, is part of the Spurs squad for the final although it is uncertain he will start the game.
The Kenyan captain played a vital part in both the semi-final win over Ajax and also the quarter-final win over Premier League champions Manchester City but has found his appearances limited this season due to recurrence of knee and other injury problems.
However, Wanyama did return to regular first team action in the latter part of the season helping to ensure the London side finished in the top four for the fourth season in a row, thus ensuring Champions League qualification again for the 2019/20 season.
In all, Wanyama has made 152 appearances for Spurs and scored 10 goals since his £11 million (Sh1.4 billion today) transfer from Southampton in 2016.
In that year, he formed a very effective partnership with Mousa Dembele in central midfield in his first season, but a serious knee injury disrupted his subsequent seasons with Spurs.
This year he has only made 13 appearances and scored one goal and has fallen behind England international Harry Winks and French star Moussa Sissoko in terms of first choice for the two central midfield roles.
With rumours that Tottenham are considering revamping their squad this summer Wanyama’s future remains uncertain.
Club manager Mauricio Pochettino has said that his future at Tottenham will depend on a realistic commitment to revamp his side with Tottenham the only club in the Premier League not to spend any money on transfers this season.
Some star players, notably Toby Alderweireld and Christian Eriksen seem likely to move on this year as they have so far refused to sign new contracts with the Danish playmaker said to be interesting Real Madrid.
Spurs will demand at least £120 million (Sh15.3 billion) for Eriksen, but Alderweireld has a buy out clause of around £25 million (Sh3.2 billion).
Almost certainly Spurs will have to raise money by selling players before they can spend big as their new north London stadium has cost nearly £1 billion (Sh128 billion).
So where does that leave Wanyama? Well undoubtedly his value has gone up in recent weeks after a poor run of form and injuries and Tottenham would expect to receive at least £25 million for the 27-year-old.
In January, Ivan Modia Yanez said there was no chance Wanyama would leave before the season finished, but he has attracted interest from such high profile clubs as Roma in the Italian League in the past.
Much will depend on discussions between Spurs, Wanyama and his agent over the close season and what they see his role will be in the forthcoming season.
If it becomes clear that the Kenyan captain will only continue to have a bit-part role in Tottenham’s future both club and player may decide it’s time to move on.