Victor Moses turned down the chance to join Chelsea and Tottenham as a teenager

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After spending years flattering to deceive, Moses is finally starting to fulfill his potential at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea winger Victor Moses turned down the chance to start his professional career at Stamford Bridge, or with London rivals Tottenham, in 2004, his former coach has told Goal.

Eyebrows were raised when Antonio Conte gave the Nigerian international his first Chelsea start for 1239 days against Hull City in October, especially in an unfamiliar wing-back role, but he has seized his opportunity in style, cementing his place on the right of the Italian’s 3-5-2 system with a series of fine performances.

Moses grabbed an excellent goal in Chelsea’s 3-0 win against Champions Leicester while starring in impressive wins against Manchester United and Everton to emphatically disprove the doubters who expected his season to be restricted to brief cameos and cup run outs after struggling to consistently impress in three consecutive campaigns on loan away from Stamford Bridge.

However, although the 25-year-old is finally enjoying a breakthrough campaign with the four-time Premier League champions four years after joining, his career could have been quite different if he had not rejected their advances when taking the first formative steps of his footballing career.

Instead, a 13-year-old Moses chose Crystal Palace due to concerns over his long-term prospects with The Eagles’ more illustrious London rivals.

“Tottenham in particular were looking at him for a long time, but I’m glad that he chose Palace. If he went to Chelsea or Tottenham, he might not have made it,” Tony Loizi, Moses’ coach at amateur club Cosmos 90, told Goal.

“I said to him: ‘look, Victor, there’s no way I would hold you back’ and I asked him to come to Crystal Palace with me. I went down there after the two-week trial and they were signing the schoolboy contracts.

“Chelsea were also in for him and I said: ‘if you sign for Palace you will get to the first team quicker than at any of the other clubs’, and in the end he chose to stay with them after his trial.”

In the end, Chelsea paid £9 million to secure his services from Wigan Athletic in 2012, as reported by the BBC, a fee he is only now starting to justify.