Not many people are aware of the humble beginning of Gent forward Moses Simon, who is now a senior international player for Nigeria after enduring several rejections from Nigerian clubs during his formative years.
In an exclusive chat with Owngoalnigeria.com, the soft spoken forward who is widely tipped to leave Gent after the summer World Cup in Russia reveals his hard road to success.
The Beginning :
I am not the first child of my parents but I happen to be the first who picked football as a career. My younger brother Thankgod has since tried to emulate me. He is talented but just like me he has to wait for his time, which I believe will come very soon,
First Career Step:
Permit me not to mention names of club here, but I was at a time begging to be given a fair chance to show my abilities. One coach looked at me and said I’m too short to make it in football. The man who believed in me aside my grassroot coach in Kaduna was Ahmed Ibrahim, the popular Coach Bros in Jos.
Transfer Abroad:
I attended the 2013 U20 World Youth Championship, I only got few minutes playing time. However I was handed a chance to trial with Ajax Amsterdam. Personally I think I didn’t do badly but Ajax didn’t see it that way. AS Trencin of Slovakia snapped me up and the rest is history.
Transfer From Trencin To Gent:
The transfer happened so fast that many people forgot that I was just a year old as a professional footballer. From the time I was rejected by Nigerian teams to when I went to Gent should be around 18 months. However I only played professionally for one year before the move to Gent.
Super Eagles :
Sunday Oliseh handed me my debut, and I also played under coach Samson Siasia as well. I still can’t believe I played a role in qualifying Nigeria for the World Cup under the guidance of coach Gernot Rohr.
I have been to two World Youth Championship in 2013 and 2015 but I didn’t get to play enough games. In 2013 I was probably too young while I had a terrible ankle injury in 2015 few days before the tournament.
Going to the World Cup with the Super Eagles is my goal for now, but the bigger goal is getting minutes during the tournament. We have a big squad now and competition for spot is fierce, but I’m confident in my God given abilities.