Victor Moses was told to stay and fight for his place at Chelsea by teammate John Obi Mikel.
Following three successive seasons on loan at various clubs in the Premier League, it appeared that the Nigerian international’s time at Stamford Bridge was up following the arrival of Antonio Conte in the summer.
However, much to the surprise of many, he remained in west London and has since become a key member in the Italian’s 3-4-3 formation which has seen the Blues climb to the top of the Premier League table after a run of 10 successive victories.
Mikel, who is yet to feature for the club across any competition this season, has revealed the important role he played in persuading his compatriot to stay at the club.
“This is the happiest I have seen Victor at the club. You can really the notice the change in him at the training ground,” Mikel told the Evening Standard.
“Whereas in previous years, he could be a bit quiet, now he is making more jokes and laughing with everyone.
“He has been on loan a lot over the years and I told him to ‘be a man, stay and fight for your place’.
“But he had his own agenda and went on loan instead. I respected that. But this year you could tell he was fed up of going on loan and wanted to compete for a spot.”
Much of Moses’ career has been spent playing as a winger, but under Conte he’s been deployed as a right-wing back and has responded by scoring twice in the 10 games since the change in formation.
COMMENTS