Chelsea manager Antonio Conte believes Victor Moses is deserving of all the praise he received this season for the work he has put in to improve every aspect of his game.

The Nigerian international has excelled since adopting a wing-back role and was recently rewarded for his stellar performances this season when he was handed a new contract by the club.

The Italian manager says he was surprised at how well Moses has performed and adapted to his new role at wing back.

‘If you asked me before the change if I imagined him in this new position, I would say not, because we started to try to play with the 4-2-4 and I always saw him as a winger, very good one-on-one, but a bit poor defensively,’ Conte told the Chelsea website.

Conte went to praise the Nigerians willingness to learn and develop as a player and the Blues boss has now labeled him as a complete player, who has the ability to performance ‘offensively and defensively’.

‘When I decided to change the system, I wanted to try him in this role, to work with him in a different situation, and he showed me great commitment to understand and to study the new role, above all in defensive situations. Now we have a complete player, offensively and defensively,’ he added.

Conte admits that after seeing the 26-year-old in action he had no doubt and never considered placing the player on loan or selling him to make a profit.

‘I realised, quickly that Victor could stay with us. I spoke with him during pre-season, when we stayed in America, and told him he will stay with us,’ Conte said.

I’m happy to have this type of player. I knew him before, but to see him in person is very important to judge a player. He deserved to stay with us this season, but also now he is deserving to play.

‘Victor was very, very happy when I told him he would stay. He said to me “I am ready to stay here, to fight for the club, I need to have my chance to show that I deserve to play with Chelsea”. It happened and we are very happy for this because he’s showing he’s a good player.’

Chelsea will next take on London Rivals West Ham United in the Premier League on Monday.

The match at the London Stadium kicks off at 22:00.

Image: Chelsea website