English Premiership
Moses deal close: Di Matteo
2012-08-24 15:52
London - Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo on Friday confirmed that the European champions are close to signing Nigeria forward Victor Moses from Wigan.
Di Matteo's team had an improved offer, reported to be worth 9 million ($14 million), accepted for Moses on Thursday after failing with four previous bids for the 21-year-old.
Moses is believed to have travelled to London for a medical and to discuss personal terms on Friday and Di Matteo expects the former Crystal Palace star will be confirmed as a Chelsea player shortly.
"The clubs have agreed terms now. The player will have a medical. Subject to that he might become a Chelsea player," said Di Matteo.
"(Wigan manager) Roberto Martinez has done a wonderful job with this player since signing him. He's really developed him. He had a very good season last year and hopefully we can progress his development.
"He can play on either wing and will give the team width. He has good dribbling ability, has pace and is powerful. We've tried very hard to get this player. We like him very much. He's young and hopefully he'll be the future of the club."
Di Matteo also revealed that captain John Terry will miss Saturday's Premier League clash against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge because of a neck injury suffered during Wednesday's 4-2 victory over Reading.
"John is struggling for tomorrow. He's a great leader and it's a big loss for us," Di Matteo said.
Terry is likely to be replaced in Di Matteo's starting line-up by David Luiz, who sat out the season opener at Stamford Bridge with a knee problem.
Luiz was warned by Chelsea for revealing his injury on Twitter but the Brazilian later tweeted a photo of himself on a private jet heading for Barcelona to watch their match against Real Madrid.
The 25-year-old is the subject of interest from Barcelona although Di Matteo insists he was at the Camp Nou on behalf of a sponsor.
"David went to a sponsor's event. In modern day football players have sponsorship deals," he said. "As long as it doesn't affect their performance, players try to obligate those duties.
"We generally don't fine our players for tweeting, although we remind them of the responsibilities they have. He remains a very important player at Chelsea."