Victor Moses reveals most important manager of his career

Former Super Eagles forward Victor Moses has praised the influence of Inter Milan boss Antonio Conte on his career.

The pair first worked together at Chelsea in 2016 where Moses played a key role in the Blues’ title-winning campaign during the Italian coach’s debut Premier League season.

While Conte was sacked by the west London club in 2018 following a fifth-placed finish in the English top-flight, the Italian was hired as Inter Milan’s new coach at the start of this season and opted to bring in Moses to Serie A on loan in January.

Speaking about reuniting with Conte once again, Moses said: ‘It’s an honour to link up once again with an important figure in my career.

‘He is my mentor and friend. I have played under a lot of managers and I’ve loved every single one of them. The most important one was Antonio Conte.

‘At Chelsea he just came in and changed everything. He is an amazing man; he totally changed my game to be honest.’

When Conte arrived at Stamford Bridge nearly four years ago, Moses’ career was stagnating following three uninspiring loan spells at Liverpool, Stoke City and West Ham.

After a difficult start to the 2016-17 league season, Conte switched Chelsea’s set-up to a 3-4-3 formation, bring in Moses as a first-choice wing-back option on the right-hand side.

The Blues ended up lifting the Premier League at the end of the season, largely helped by a run of 13 consecutive league wins – a Premier League record at the time.

Moses would remain a key player for the Blues in the wing-back role until Conte’s sacking and the Nigerian is forever grateful for that much needed confidence boost back in 2016.

Moses added: ‘He gave me that fighting spirit to believe in myself and to enjoy my football same time.

‘It was an amazing [first] season for me under Antonio Conte and I’ll always respect him for that, he’s an amazing man.

‘I’ve never played that [wing-back] position before. When the manager came in, he talked me through it and then put me there.

‘It was good to have the manager’s support, and he backed me and gave me the confidence to go out there and express myself.

‘So I just wanted to go out there to play for him, the fans and the football club. I didn’t let him down.’

Despite fellow Italian coach Maurizio Sarri coming in as Conte’s replacement, Moses did not fit into the new coach’s philosophy and was loaned out to Fenerbache last season.

And following limited game-time under Sarri’s replacement Frank Lampard, Moses was reunited with Conte at Inter Milan earlier this year.

When Serie A gets back underway once coronavirus lockdown restrictions have been eased further in Italy, Conte and Moses will be looking for another league title together, with Inter currently in the Scudetto title race this year.

While the 29-year-old wing-back has only played a handful of games in the Serie A so far, he is already making positive steps under Conte again.

Moses added: ‘I’ve come to realise that you play better under a coach that believes in you and that is what Conte has done for me. I’ve played three matches and it’s been wonderful.

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‘I feel better already. Before the lock down I’ve played three games. I started the match away to Udinese and we won 2-0.

‘It is good for the team. We are playing for the good of the team.’