Mourinho never spoke to me at Chelsea —Moses

NIGERIAN international, Victor Moses, says he did not enjoy life at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho  because the Portuguese handler picked his own favourites.

Moses is enjoying his game again thanks to new manager, Antonio Conte, who has installed  the player’s talent in a novel  3-4-3 formation.

Tomorrow, Mourinho returns to Stamford Bridge for the first time as an opponent in the dugout and Moses will be eager to show him he was wrong not to have given him a look-in.

Following a protracted transfer discussions, Moses finally left Wigan Athletic and joined Chelsea  under interim boss Rafa Benitez in 2012 but his joy was as shortlived as the Spaniard’s tenure. Under Benitez  Moses made 32 appearances between November 2012 and May 2013 and scored seven goals.

Returning Mourinho did not believe in Moses, sending the player on loan in spite of remarkable pre-seasons.

“He never spoke to me,” Moses told ESPN when asked if Mourinho had explained the decision to send him on loan. “I thought in my head, ‘He’s got his own players already’.

“I think we chatted a couple of times on the phone — he asked if I was alright at Liverpool [where Moses spent the 2013-14 season on loan], but that was it.”

Before arriving at Chelsea, Conte said he had watched Moses on three occasions in 2015 and wondered what his problem was at Chelsea. He told the club hierarchy he wanted to assess Moses first-hand and thereafter fell in love with his style.

“The manager came to me and said, ‘I feel that you’re working hard, I really enjoy watching you play and I don’t want you to go out on loan’,” Moses added.

“When he said that to me I was really pleased. To be honest, I just want to go out there, enjoy my football and work hard for him. He’s played the game before, he understands it and he understands how players feel.”

He went on to reward the player with a four-year contract extension but the coach said he couldn’t stop the player when his agents asked for loan move.