Moses might seek January exit from Chelsea — report

Over the years, Maurizio Sarri made a name for himself mostly thanks to his tactics and proactive, fun approach to the game. But he was also noted as a manager who preferred not to rotate his squad, giving as much playing time as possible to his best, most favored players. His former boss at Napoli, Aurelio De Laurentiis, has even claimed that as one of the reasons why the team came second in the Serie A title chase last season, despite already establishing a club record for points in a season.

While Sarri’s hardly unique in this regard — most coaches prefer to start their best players all the time — we’re seeing this in action at Chelsea, too, and it’s leading to a few knock-on effects as well. Players such as Andreas Christensen and Gary Cahill voiced their concerns over the lack of playing time and may be looking to leave, while Cesc Fàbregas hopes that the limited amount of action he is getting from Sarri will still be enough to warrant him a new contract. Victor Moses has now joined the narrative as well; according to Goal, he is considering a move away in January if his situation does not improve.

Moses has been here before. After a strong debut season for Chelsea, he spent the next three seasons out on loan before Antonio Conte brought him back in from the cold and reinvented him as a wing-back and as one of the most critical players on the team. Those two years brought plenty of collective and personal success for Moses.

But now back in a more traditional winger role with Sarri, Moses has seen very limited playing time behind Hazard, Willian, and Pedro. He’s managed just 143 minutes across 5 appearances (1 start), including the Community Shield. The only players who have played less are teenagers Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ethan Ampadu, oft-injured Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the third and fourth goalkeepers, and players who are just getting paid because it would be far more expensive to release them (Drinkwater, Piazon).

This is understandably not a good situation for a 27-year-old former Nigeria international, ostensibly still in the prime of his career. Moses will have 2 years left on his contract in after this season, making the summer the ideal time to figure out a transfer — unless he can find some team to pay over the odds in January ... at which point we would thank him for his service and loyalty and wish him all the best of luck wherever he might land.