If for any schoolboy there is no greater fame than becoming a legend in your own playground, then Victor Moses is already a star.

Among the boys kicking footballs round the the well-heeled yard of the Whitgift school, Croydon, the 14-year-old has usurped Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney and co as the player they want to emulate.

Moses's popularity among his peers comes thanks to his extraordinary goalscoring exploits for the school's under-14 team, which this month won the FA Youth Cup thanks to a 5-0 defeat of red-shirted Grimsby school in which Moses scored all five.

The Grimsby Evening Telegraph recorded the defeat with the headline: "Holy Moses - Wonder Player Parts Red Sea".

He is enrolled in Crystal Palace's youth academy, and so prolific is his record - he has scored more than 50 goals this season, including 10 on debut - that seasoned observers are predicting he will attract many more headlines in a professional career.

Moses plainly possesses prodigious talent, but his rise is all the more remarkable given his troubled background.

He was born in Nigeria, but lost both parents in circumstances that are unclear. Since arriving in Britain he has settled down with foster parents, but officially he is an asylum seeker, a legal status that the school will test when it undertakes a football tour of Japan in October.

Moses originally went to a state school, Stanley technical high school.

His football skills were first spotted at a local park by scouts from Palace, who took him on to their books.

The club then recommended him to Whitgift, a fee-paying school run by the second-richest educational trust in the country. The trust assists in paying the fees of 45% of its 1,200 boys.

The move to Whitgift has given Moses access to superb facilities, expert tuition, and an environment in which he has been able to move on from his past at his own pace.

Under the guiding hand of the former Arsenal and Chelsea star Colin Pates, who is the games master, he has developed a level-headed approach to his recent notoriety that bodes well for the future.

Self-effacing and soft-spoken, his demeanour belies his flamboyance on the pitch. Plainly a hugely gifted natural athlete, he has scored from the halfway line this season and celebrates goals with leaping somersaults.

In every other regard, however, he seems to have his feet on the ground.

"I have got to work hard if I am going to be a professional, but at the moment I just want to keep scoring goals and winning games for the team," he said.

"I really admire Zinedine Zidane and Frank Lampard, they are really skilful and I like the way they shoot from distance.

"It's good to score goals but my teammates are fantastic, they really support me, but the opponents just want to tackle me hard!"

Pates believes that Moses has the attributes to become a successful professional: "He is far from being the finished article, but there is no question he is the most talented striker of his age that I have seen," he said.

"He is strong, quick and he scores goals for fun, and he just looks fantastic as a player.

"What is encouraging is that he has a great attitude. He has his feet firmly on the ground and he is modest and level-headed.

"He almost has the attitude of a professional; if he scores four but misses one it is the miss that keeps him awake. He is going to have to work particularly hard if he is going to make it, but with his talent it is up to him."

Pates's view is shared by Lawrie McMenemy, the former Southampton manager, who presented the trophy to Whitgift.

"He told me that I had the talent to be a footballer but I had to really concentrate on my education and work hard to do it."