Harambee Stars midfielder Victor Wanyama has revealed he was frustrated at Tottenham Hotspur before he decided to join Montreal Impact of Canada.
Wanyama had struggled with an injury and said when he was fit again and tried to make his way back into the first team, he was not given the chance to do so.
“Most of them understood that I needed to get my happiness back and the only way to get my happiness back was to come and enjoy playing football again,” Wanyama told CBC News.
“I was frustrated with how I was treated [at Tottenham] and it was bad.
“I lost a little bit of passion. For me to lose passion? I'm the guy that loves the game. I was so frustrated and I just wasn't happy.
“I was not given the chance to come back.”
The Kenyan captain absolved his then-manager Jose Mourinho from blame and pointed out the real problem was at the top.
“The first thing [Jose Mourinho] told me, he was wondering why I wasn't playing. I have to be playing. The problem wasn't with the coach if you ask me. The problem was a little bit upstairs and they didn't give me a chance,” explained the former Southampton star.
“They tried to frustrate me. They gave me one game after four months, or three months, so it was a little bit tough.”
Wanyama, 28, explained how his deal with Montreal Impact was arrived at after he received a call from Thierry Henry.
“I was frustrated. I wanted to get my happiness back, my football happiness back. That's when the manager here, [Thierry] Henry called me and asked if I wanted to play. And I said 'yes'.”
Wanyama is yet to enjoy a Major League Soccer (MLS) debut due to the ongoing efforts to contain the coronavirus. He revealed how he is interacting with his new teammates via apps like Zoom or FaceTime.
“It's a great thing to do, to have that bond and be a team even though we can't be together at this time,” explained the Kenyan.
“It's been tough, I just moved in and I haven't even had a chance to get to know the city well. Everything happened so fast.”
The former Celtic midfielder has also made a contribution towards the efforts of beating Covid-19 in Kenya when he bought basic necessities including sanitizers to the residents of Mathare in Nairobi.
“The people who are back home living in the ghettos are being told to stay at home, but they have nothing to eat. So, I tried to reach out and tried to give what I can give,” Wanyama concluded.
“They are grateful and they are good people.”