From a young age, Moses enjoyed playing football with friends in Nigeria. In an interview, he revealed, “I wore no shoes. We simply barefooted and when a small ball fell at our feet and we started out playing football.”
Source: NairaLand.com
At the age of 11, Moses’s parents, Austine and Josephine Moses, were killed when riots in Kaduna between the Muslim majority and Christian minority resulted in their home being razed down. Moses was taken to London to live with his uncle after the tragedy, and began to play football more seriously.
Shortly after learning about his parents’ death, Moses was informed that he was to be the next target. His friends smuggled him into hiding until he was able to emigrate and seek asylum in England with his family in South London.
Luckily, he was spotted by Crystal Palace as he was playing in Norbury Park in England and was brought to their academy. Quickly, he was recommended to Whitgift, the fee-paying school in Croydon where he could take advantage of their top-notch facilities.
Demonstrating his talent from a young age, Moses began attracting attention when he scored 50 goals for Crystal Palace at the age of 14. Between Moses and teammate Joe Szekeres, the two scored over 100 goals between them over the course of their three years together, allowing the team to win numerous School Cups.
At the under-16 and under-17 levels, Moses chose to represent his adopted home of England, almost leading his team to a championship at the 2007 UEFA European U-17 Championship in Belgium (they were narrowly beaten by Spain, though Moses finished as the tournament’s top scorer and received the Golden Boot). It wasn’t until 2011, at the age of 20, that Moses accepted Nigeria’s call-up to play for the Super Eagles. He has since participated in several international friendlies, and started all of Nigeria’s four matches at the 2014 FIFA World Cup before they were eliminated by France in the Round of 16.
Conscious of the immense talent that England’s national team is presented with every year, Moses chose to make the move to Nigeria where he felt the full international opportunity would knock. In an interview, he talked about the great young players that England produces, and felt that he would be better utilized on the Nigerian team for international play.
As all new members are made to do, Moses was ordered up onto a chair in Monaco by his new teammates and made to sing and dance for everyone’s amusement. Not knowing what to pick, Moses ended up singing a bit of a Skepta song, an English rapper and DJ.
Moses’s versatility has made him invaluable to teams, as he can play from nearly anywhere on the front field and still create opportunities to score. In an interview, he said, “I feel comfortable anywhere up front. Left wing, right wing, behind the striker…I just want to enjoy myself and play football.”
Source: TheGuardian.com
Having played for Wigan Athletic for two seasons before he made the move to Chelsea, Moses was already familiar playing against the famed club. After moving to Chelsea, he appeared in only 23 matches before going on loan for Liverpool for the 2013 season. As he is now on loan to Stoke City for 2014, it seems as though this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.
