Chelsea and Nigeria wide man Victor Moses has announced his retirement from international football aged 27.

Moses played 37 times, scoring 12 goals, for the Super Eagles – which included featuring at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups – and was part of the side who won the 2013 African Nations Cup.

He said in a statement posted on his official Twitter feed on Wednesday: “I would like to announce that after much thought I have made the decision to retire from playing international football.

“I have experienced some of the best moments of my life wearing the Super Eagles shirt and have memories with me that will last a lifetime. Nothing will ever compete (sic) to what it felt like to represent Nigeria on behalf of our country.

“However I feel that now is the right time to step away in order to be able to focus fully on (my) club career and my young family as well as to allow the next generation of Super Eagle stars the opportunity to step up and to flourish. We are blessed as a nation to have so many exciting young players coming through and now is their time.

“There are many highlights that stand out for me over the years; from making my debut, to playing in two World Cups and being part of the team to win the African Nations Cup for (the) first time for our nation since 1994 being just a few of them.”

Moses added: “I have already spoken to the manager (Gernot Rohr) by telephone and would like to say thank you to him and his staff, the NFF (Nigeria Football Federation) and all of my teammates for all of their support over the years.

“Most importantly, I would like to say thank you to the Nigerian people for believing in me and supporting me over the years. It’s meant the world to me and my family and I will always be a proud Nigerian supporting the team.

“Thank you for the memories and good luck to the team for the future.”

After representing England at various youth levels, including playing once for the under-21s, Moses made his Nigeria debut in 2012.

At the World Cup finals over the summer he played in all three of his country’s games as they made a group stage exit, scoring a penalty in the last of those, a 2-1 loss to Argentina.