More facts have emerged as to why Chelsea’s Victor Moses and Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, decided to stick with their respective clubs, rather than go to the Rio Olympic Games to represent Nigeria.
The two players are battling to remain relevant with their clubs after they were handed new managers to pilot their clubs this season.
Apart from John Mikel Obi who has already pitched tent with the Dream Team in Atlanta, United States, Iheanacho and Moses were initially part of Samson Siasia’s plans for the Rio games before they opted out for their clubs pre-season training exercise.
Moses had been striving hard to prove his worth to new Chelsea boss, Antonio Conte, having been forced out on loan to Liverpool, Stoke City and West Ham United during the last three seasons. The Nigerian is using the pre-season campaign to convince the Italian that he deserves a first-team spot.
On the other hand, Iheanacho, who made great impact last season with his club, had been having sleepless nights when the new Man City manager, Pep Guardiola, failed to include him in the team’s first pre-season tour outside England.
The youthful Nigerian believes he needs to work hard to justify a place in Man City this season and the best option is to stay in England for now.
Guardiola’s reputation for the development of youth players precedes him and having only been promoted to fleeting first team duties last season, the striker is still a very raw and inexperienced talent. But in his miniscule playing time, not only had he shown great awareness of where he needs to be on the pitch, he had also proved he has the ability to compete at the top level.
Should Guardiola want to deploy him alongside Aguero, the pair have already displayed a good understanding of themselves – their link up in the club’s 3-0 FA Cup win at Norwich last season was a joy to behold.
It is no longer news that Moses was recruited by Roberto Di Matteo in the summer of 2012, following a breakout season at Wigan Athletic. He scored 10 goals in his first 12 months at Stamford Bridge, and made 44 appearances under both Di Matteo and interim manager, Rafa Benitez.
However, Moses’ career at the Blues was stopped in its tracks by the return of Jose Mourinho to the club in the summer of 2013. The Portuguese boss did not see him as part of his plans and sent the winger out on loan spells to three Premier League rivals, most recently West Ham.
However, he is starting pre-season at Chelsea with refuelled batteries and is eager to prove to Conte that he can be a key figure at Stamford Bridge.
