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By Anthony Nlebem and Abiodun Adewale.
Forward Terem Moffi is rearing to go again in the French Ligue 1 after opening his goals account for new club OGC Nice on Sunday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
It took Moffi 260 minutes spread across four matches to open his goalscoring account for Nice, with the Nigerian netting a brace to help the Eaglets cruise to a 3-0 win at AS Monaco in the Derby de la Côte d’Azur and also extend their unbeaten run to eight games in the league.
After firing blanks in his first three matches since moving from Lorient in January, it took Moffi eight minutes of the encounter to open his goals account, finishing off a long ball from Dante, before adding the second in similar fashion in the 25th minute.
Khephren Thuram-Ulien added the third goal as Les Aiglon ran out with the 3-0 victory, which moved them up to seventh in Ligue 1.
Moffi also became the first player to score two goals or more at Monaco since Mario Balotelli bagged a brace in a 2-2 draw at the Stade Louis II back in January 2018.
It was a performance that the Nigerian and Nice fans had been waiting for, as the Nigerian had been prolific for Lorient in recent seasons, scoring 12 from 18 games in the first half of the current campaign.
However, he has taken some time to get going with Les Aiglons and he swept away doubts and proved doubters wrong and showed why Nice splashed €30m on him
The goals took his tally to 14 in 22 appearances this season in Ligue 1, with an assist to his name.
“I am happy to have scored my first goals, I worked for that, I feel good in this team and I will continue to work to score more goals,” Moffi said in his post-match interview.
Nice coach Didier Digard praised the Nigeria international, noting that he never doubted the quality of his new signing.
“Once again, I never doubted him,” Digard said.
“The main thing is that he had the support of all his teammates and his coaches. We were aware of the situation and he could have had doubts, but he was able to work very calmly and feel the confidence everyone had in him.”
His teammate Jean-Clair Todibo is also confident that Moffi will make an impact at Les Aiglons.
“Given his transfer, there are bound to be high expectations around him, but we at the club put him as comfortable as possible.
“We know it can take a little time, but in training, he performs very well and we have already shown the extent of his talent quite a few times.
Meanwhile, Moffi has taken his haul to 14 in the French topflight division with his brace to move within three strikes of Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe, who is leading the way with 17 goals after his brace against Marseille, thus edging closer in the race for the Ligue 1 Golden Boot award for the 2022/23 season.
In the upcoming matches, the 23-year-old will fancy his chances of leapfrogging Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun and Lille’s Jonathan David, who are joint-second with 15 goals.
Moffi’s best goalscoring return in a single season is is 20 for Lithuanian outfit Riteriai in 2019.