SCORENigeria Top 30: Moses Simon (27)
This was an underwhelming campaign for Moses ‘Daddy’ Simon, which was not helped by injuries.
It’s this decisive! 🔥
Moses Simon helped his nation qualify with his #AssistOfTheDay! 💥#TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 pic.twitter.com/0omOZPbRxn
— CAF (@CAF_Online) February 3, 2024
Good enough he opted to extend his stay at FC Nantes until 2026 rather than walk away a free agent at the end of the season amid serious interest from the likes of Lyon.
The reward is that he will soon be granted French citizenship.
Otherwise, the 2023/2024 season was one to easily look past for the winger as his frustration began when the Super Eagles lost the AFCON final to hosts Cote d’Ivoire in February.
At the AFCON, Simon was one of the Super Eagles best attackers, constantly posing threat to the opposition defenders in attacking situations.
He played a total of 434 minutes at Africa’s biggest football show piece, even bagging two Man of the Match awards despite just creating one goal in the competition.
Simon returned to FC Nantes after the AFCON and was diagnosed late into March with a broken fibula (injury) sustained in Côte d’Ivoire after which he had to undergo a surgery.
Before the AFCON, Simon already had a largely unproductive season at Nantes recording only eight goal involvements – three goals that included a penalty and five assists.
Simon had a pass completion rate of 76.12%, made 30 key passes with three assists with a rate of 0.25 assists per 90 minutes and 359 minutes per assist.
He attempted 118 crosses, but could only complete 24 with a rate of 20.34%.
With regards to his most threatening ability (Dribbling), Simon tried 82 dribbles but could only complete 45 with a success rate of 54.88%.
Simon had a poor conversion rate of 11.11% after taking 27 shots and missing the target 14 times, but a fair shot accuracy of 48.15% after ensuring 13 out of 27 shots were on target.
Simon is still recovering from a broken fibula in his race to be fit for action next season.
