To Victor Moses, the images have a dream-like
quality. The Nigeria winger had prayed since the beginning of July for
the completion of his transfer from Wigan Athletic to Chelsea and there
had come a point when he feared that it would not happen.
But, in a whirlwind week at the end of August he
signed for £9m, was introduced to the Stamford Bridge crowd before the
Newcastle United game, felt his eyes widen and his stomach flip during
his first training session and then, the finale, watched the European
Super Cup against Atlético Madrid as an unused substitute.
Moses speaks in shy, hushed tones but they do not
disguise the awe and excitement that he feels. His arrival at Chelsea
marks a significant staging post in his quest to reach the game’s
summit, even if it pales in comparison to his broader journey from the
depths of personal tragedy. His parents were murdered in Nigeria and
Moses fled to England as an 11-year-old asylum seeker. He feels that
they look down on him with pride.
Moses’s focus is on the future and the opportunities
that he intends to grasp. He hopes to make his debut at some stage of
the grudge fixture at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, although to give
it such billing feels crass in the light of what he has lived through.
The 21-year-old bristles with quiet determination. He
was Chelsea’s final attack-minded signing of the summer, following Eden
Hazard, Marko Marin and Oscar, who joined at a total cost of £60m, and
with Juan Mata and Ramires also vying for prominence in Roberto Di
Matteo’s line of three behind the main striker, the competition for
places is ferocious.
“I don’t really know if it was Di Matteo or if it was
the chairman or whoever but I knew that Chelsea were interested in me
and that was it, really,” Moses says. “For a club to come and get you,
they are going to use you at some stage. I know that there are a lot of
players at Chelsea but if I do get my chance, I just have to grab it.”
Moses already has Chelsea stories to tell. He smiles
when he recalls standing on a chair in Monaco, in the build-up to the
Super Cup final, and being ordered to sing and dance for the amusement
of his teammates. The initiation routine for new recruits has become a
feature at many clubs. “I was nervous,” Moses says. “I thought: ‘What am
I going to sing?’ because when I stood there, I literally didn’t know
what to sing.”
For the record and the grime fans out there, Moses
“kind of sang a Skepta song”. “It’s a little bit embarrassing,” he says,
“… everyone watching me, thinking: ‘What is he singing?’ But it was all
right.”
Moses has needed more than the occasional superlative
of late. “The first training session was unbelievable … seeing JT,
Ashley Cole, Torres and people like that, it was incredible, kind of
crazy,” he says. “And the Super Cup, when I was watching it, I was
thinking to myself: ‘I can’t actually believe that I’m here.’ I didn’t
get on but I still got a [runners-up] medal.”
Moses’s appetite for precious metal, though, has been
fired by a different encounter. “I saw the Champions League trophy the
other day, it was at the training ground,” he says. “Everyone was having
their picture taken with it but not me. It was the players that played
in the Champions League. I just walked away, although I did touch it. I
thought to myself: ‘Hopefully, we will win it again this year.’”
Moses’s single-mindedness and strength of character
is evident and it is easy to connect it with the manner in which he has
coped with his childhood trauma. His father, Austin, was a Christian
pastor in Kaduna, and his mother, Josephine, helped with his work.
Violence, though, was depressingly familiar between
the Muslim majority and the Christian minority and when riots erupted in
2002, Moses’s parents, who were obvious but unflinching targets, were
attacked in their home and killed. Moses was given the news as he played
football in the street. He became a target, too, and, after being
hidden by friends for a week, he was sent to England, where he was
placed with foster parents in south London. Upon his arrival in the
country, he knew nobody.
“It has been a long journey from Nigeria and I just
want to keep strong and work hard for myself, whether it’s football or
not football,” Moses says. “I have to thank God for being where I am,
it’s like a dream come true and, if I keep working hard, who knows, I’ll
probably end up in Barcelona one day,” he says.
He made his Palace debut at 16 and was called up by
England at every youth level. He won the Golden Boot at the European
Under-17 Championship in 2007, in which England lost to Spain in the
final, but his momentum was checked at Under-21 level. Stuart Pearce
fielded him only once, against Uzbekistan in 2010, and the manager
substituted him at half-time. Moses was not called up for the next game.
“I played for England Under-16s, 17s, 18s, 19s, 20s and then 21s … then
… I just decided to make the decision to play for Nigeria,” he says.
•Culled from guardian.co.uk
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