Former Kenya international Victor Wanyama has come out to explain why he was spotted without his jersey and shorts after CF Montreal defeated Charlotte FC 2-0 in a Major Soccer League fixture on Sunday.
The former Harambee Stars captain was captured in a video that later went viral, showing him sprinting towards the dressing room wearing his boxers after the game at Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina.
The video caused a lot of debate on social media and the former Tottenham Hotspur player, who was returning to action after missing the previous 4-1 victory against Orlando City owing to suspension, has come out to put the record straight on what prompted him to end up in his underwear at the final whistle.
“Hi everyone, Victor [Wanyama] here,” the 30-year-old opened up in response to a new video posted on his social media pages titled: “This is how I ended up undies.”
“Yeah, a lot of fans have been asking me if I gave out my jersey and short in the Charlotte game, yes, the answer is yes, yeah, so I gave one of the fans my jersey.
“And… while I was approaching the dressing room there was one elderly fan, who approached me and he told me he drove for seven hours to just come and see me play and also see the team play, so he would love to go back with any merchandise, like anything that he can remember.
“So I told the fan, why not? You know you have sacrificed a lot to drive seven hours to come and watch us play, then I decided to give him my shorts, so he was very happy, I just wanted to make his day and he was very happy and... yeah, nothing much.
“So that is why I ended up with no jersey and short, anyway I want to thank that fan for dedicating himself to the team and we appreciate it.”
Wanyama, who helped Montreal to secure their third straight victory in the top-flight, has appeared in the vast majority of MLS games in 2022, making 10 appearances overall and playing 880 minutes. He has started in all 10 of these appearances across their 11 fixtures.
In total, the midfielder has registered one league assist this term and has been booked five times. In last season’s MLS, Wanyama featured in 27 games for Montreal and scored two goals.
Prior to joining Montreal in March 2020, Wanyama made 69 league appearances in total for Spurs, scoring six goals and providing one assist. Wanyama will hope to keep his starting role when Montreal travel to face Nashville SC at GEODIS Park on Thursday.