Victor Moses
Victor Moses (born 12 December 1990) is a Nigerian footballer who plays for Premier League club Chelsea. Moses can play in a variety of positions, but in the first-team games he has taken part in so far, Moses has mostly played as a left winger. Born in Nigeria, he has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels, but opted to play for theNigerian national football team as opposed to being fully capped at England level.Club career
Crystal Palace
Born in Nigeria, Moses moved to England at the age of 13.[3] He attended Stanley Technical High School (now known as the Harris Academy) inSouth Norwood, during which time he was scouted playing football in the local Tandridge League, where scouts from Crystal Palace approached him, with the club's Selhurst Park stadium just streets away from his school, Stanley Technical High. The scouts were so impressed that he was offered a place in the Eagles' academy, which he accepted.Shortly after Moses joined their academy, Palace recommended him to the fee-paying Whitgift School in Croydon where former Palace player and coach Steve Kember and former Arsenal and Chelsea star Colin Pates had been coaching the school football team, in the hope that the higher quality coaching and facilities at Whitgift would further improve his development as a player.
He first came to prominence at 14 after scoring 50 goals for Palace's under-14s side he played along side Joe Szekeres for 3 years scoring over 100 goals between them, as well as helping Whitgift win many School Cups, including a National Cup, scoring all five goals in the final against Healing School of Grimsby at the Walkers Stadium, Leicester.[3]
He made his debut in The Championship on 6 November 2007 away from home against Cardiff. In the Palace first team Moses settled down well, scoring 3 times in his first season and settling into the squad well. In the close season Moses committed his future to Palace, signing a four-year contract to take him through until 2012,[4] but the following season failed to ever really get going however, and despite a sustained period of starting matches he only managed to score twice.
Wigan Athletic
It was the 2009–10 season where he really came to prominence, when a run of five goals in eight games for the Eagles saw him become the hottest property of the January transfer window. On the final day of it he completed a £2.5 million transfer to Premier League side Wigan Athletic after Palace went into administration.[5] He made his debut on 6 February 2010 as a substitute against Sunderland in a 1–1 draw.[6] On 20 March 2010, Moses came on as a substitute against Burnley and got his first assist for the club, setting up team mate Hugo Rodallega for an injury time winner.[7] He scored his first goal for Wigan on 3 May 2010 against Hull City.[8]Moses picked up two injuries at the start of the 2010–11 season,[9] and found it difficult to make it back into the first-team due to increased competition for places. He scored his first league goal of the season on 13 November 2010 in a 1–0 win against West Bromwich Albion.[10]
Following the departure of Charles N'Zogbia, Moses became a regular starter for Wigan in the 2011–12 season. On 10 December 2011, he scored his first goal of the season against West Bromwich Albion – his first goal since scoring against the same team last season.
Chelsea
On 23 August 2012, Wigan Athletic accepted a fifth bid from Chelsea, after they finally met Wigan's asking price after four previously unsuccessful bids. The player was given permission to speak with Chelsea.[11] On 24 August 2012 Chelsea announced that the transfer of Moses had been completed.[12] Moses played his first game for Chelsea, coming on a substituteagainst Queens Park Rangers. Moses made his full debut for Chelseawhen he started the League Cup game against Wolves and scored his first goal after 71 minutes, the game finished 6–0 to the Blues. [13] Moses started his first Champions League game against Nordsjælland. On 31 October 2012, Moses was named Man of the Match of the match against Manchester United in the Capital One Cup, a game Chelsea won 5–4.[14] On 3 November 2012, Moses scored his first Premier League goal for Chelsea against Swansea City which ended in a 1–1 draw.[15] Four days later, he scored his first Champions League goal for Chelsea againts Shakhtar Donetsk; Moses replaced Oscar in the 80th minute and headed in Juan Mata's corner with seconds left to secure a 3–2 win.[16]International career
England
U-16 and U-17 level
Despite originally hailing from Nigeria Moses initially chose to represent his adopted home of England, featuring for the under-16 team, in which he won the Victory Shield in 2005, and under-17 level. He travelled with the squad to the 2007 UEFA European U-17 Championship in Belgium, scoring three times (including the only goal in the semi-final win overFrance) to help John Peacock's side to the competition final, where they were narrowly beaten by a single goal by Spain, though Moses managed to finish as the competition's top scorer and collect the Golden Boot for doing so.That same summer the squad travelled to South Korea for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Moses finished as the Young Lions' top scorer, netting three times in the Group B fixtures, but sustained an injury in the victory overBrazil that ruled him out of the competition. Moses' teammates went on to reach the quarterfinal stage.
U-19s
Following that tournament Moses was promoted to the under-18 squad, and following his goalscoring exploits for Palace's first-team, he was promoted to the under-19 side without appearing sufficiently for the U-18s to actually collect a cap. He went with the U-19s to the 2008 UEFA European U-19 Championship in the Czech Republic, playing two matches and picking up one assist as the Young Lions failed to make it out of Group B. Speculation grew as Stuart Pearce snubbed him that Moses would return to play for Nigeria in the 2010 World Cup, this move never materialised.U-21s
Moses was promoted to the under-21 squad at the beginning of the 2010-2011 Premier League season and made his debut against Uzbekistan in a 2–0 win.[17]Nigeria
Moses was selected to play for Nigeria against Guatemala in February 2011, but the friendly was cancelled.[18] He accepted a call-up in March 2011 for Nigeria's games against Ethiopia and Kenya.[19] However, he was ruled out of those games because his application to FIFA to switch nationalities was not received in time. It was announced on 1 November 2011, that FIFA had cleared Moses and Shola Ameobi to play for Nigeria.[20] He made his Eagles debut as a substitute on 29 February 2012 againstRwanda. He scored his first goal for Nigeria in a 6–1 whitewashing of Liberia in an AFCON 2013 qualifying match, scoring a brace. One of the goals was via a cross from Chelsea team-mate, John Obi Mikel.Club career statistics
- As of 7 November 2012
International career statistics
- As of 1 March 2010
Honours
- 2005 – Victory Shield
- 2007 – UEFA U-17 European Championships – runners-up
- 2007 – UEFA U-17 European Championships – Golden Boot winner
- December 2009 Football League Young Player of the Month
References
External links
- Victor Moses profile at the Wigan Athletic website
- Chelsea Profile
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