New Hatter Moses reveals he turned down European offers to sign for Luton

New Luton signing Victor Moses has revealed he turned down the opportunity to play in Europe as he wanted to continue his career back in England with the Hatters.​

The 33-year-old, who had been released by Spartak Moscow in the summer having spent the last three-and-a-half years out in Russia, could have carried on playing overseas, a position he was no stranger to having had spells in both Italy and Turkey prior to his permanent move to the Otkrytie Bank Arena in 2021.

However, the former Liverpool, Chelsea and Crystal Palace winger opted to head to Kenilworth Road instead, and speaking to the club’s official website about his decision to do so, he said: “I had a few offers from Europe, but I said to my agent that I set my mind that I want to stay over here, and here we are. It was a good experience for me, not just Spartak, but Fenerbache and then I went a year to Inter Milan.

"I really enjoyed every single minute and it's a different culture as well that was very good. I really had a great three years there (with Spartak) and now that I'm back my main focus is to focus on Luton. I’m very pleased and I'm very honoured to be at this club and I just can’t wait to get going. I’m looking forward to it, it’s a pleasure to be here. It’s a good time for me to be in the country again and start to enjoy my football again, so I'm very happy.”

Moses has joined a Town side who haven't been able to kick their season off in the manner they had hoped, taking just a single point from their opening four Championship matches. Boss Rob Edwards had publicly set his goal out before a ball was even kicked, challenging his team to regain their place in a top flight they were relegated from last term, but that just hasn’t happened yet, Luton sitting one place off the bottom of the table, also knocked out of the Carabao Cup as well.

However, the ex-Nigerian international and African Cup of Nations winner remains confident they can turn that around though, starting at Millwall this weekend, continuing: "After Luton were in the Premier League last season and coming back down to the Championship, the main objective now is to try and help the club to go back up to the Premier League again.

"I spoke to him (Edwards) before I came, I spoke to the director, they told me the plan and with the history of the club, I just want to be part of the success. I just want to come here, I want to enjoy my football, I want to work hard for the club and for the players and get back to where we belong really in the Premier League.

“I thought they did well last season and were just a bit unlucky sometimes. With most of the boys that were playing, it might have been their first time playing in the Premier League, but it was a good experience. Football is like this sometimes and they were just a little bit unlucky not to stay up. This season is now is to focus more on the game on Saturday coming up and just taking each game as it comes and try to get back up into the Premier League.”

How he thinks Town can achieve that, then Moses, who has won the Premier League and FA Cup, plus the Europa League twice in his career, said: “It’s time for me to start working hard to help the lads with the experience that I’ve got. It’s a collective-ness as well, so we all need to work together as a team and individuals as well.

“If we can work together as a team, we can easily achieve whatever we want this season. It’s all about the mindset, all about the desire. The ambition is there. Technically every single one of the players here are very good. I’ve trained with the lads and the mentality is very good, so we need to kick on now from Saturday and try to go back into a winning situation again.”

Although Edwards stated that Moses probably isn’t in a position to begin a fixtures just yet, his last first team start coming on October 8, 2023 during a 2-2 draw against CSKA Moscow, making eight more substitute outings afterwards, the winger is eager to be up and running as soon as he can, adding: “I’m ready to go.

"I just want to play football, I just want to enjoy it, being hard at it again. Whatever minutes I get, I just want to go out there and help the lads. That’s the most important thing. I’m fit, I want to play football and I just want to help the team make sure we win as many games as we can this season. I’m very excited, I can’t wait to get started, I’m looking forward to it.”