This time three years ago, Victor Wanyama was enjoying the finest season of his career. Bossing the Tottenham Hotspur midfield with Mousa Dembele, Wanyama was a key part of the high-energy Mauricio Pochettino-managed side that finished the campaign second in the Premier League with a club-record 86 points.



At the end of February 2017, Wanyama produced another impressive display in a 4-0 win over Stoke City. A month earlier, he helped Spurs beat eventual champions Chelsea 2-0 — giving such an all-action performance that Pochettino later wrote in his book Brave New World that “Victor was everywhere.”



But not long after, Wanyama was suddenly nowhere.



He suffered a knee cartilage injury during the following pre-season and has never quite been the same player since. There are similarities with the effect a knee injury had on team-mate Danny Rose earlier that same year.



Wanyama now finds himself in limbo. He has played just 123 minutes...