C

yriel Dessers wasted

no time in beginning

to pay back the

investment made in

him by Racing Genk

with a goal on his

debut at the start of

the new Belgian season, following his

€4 million move from Heracles Almelo

in the neighbouring Netherlands.

With15 goals from 26 matches, he

had topped the Eredivisie’s goal charts

alongside Feyenoord’s Steven Berghuis,

firing Heracles to eighth place.

It proved a breakout campaign for

the 25-year-old, something of a late

bloomer but now with his sights firmly

set on an international career.

Belgian-born Dessers received

one call-up at Under-21 level for his

country of birth but was an unused

substitute. Now he is being earmarked

for a debut with Nigeria, where his

mother hails from.

“Before the 2018 World Cup I had

some contact with them and they told

me I had to go to a club where I would

play weekly,” he explained.

At that stage, Dessers’ potential

had been recognised by FC Utrecht.

The Eredivisie club signed him after

22 goals in the Dutch second division

for NAC Breda, but he made more

appearances as a substitute than

a starter in his first season, and his

second campaign was ruined by

a bad knee injury.

The move to Heracles in 2019, who

paid€1m for him and have realised

a four-fold profit on their investment,

was both a setback and an opportunity.

“Everyone has to deal with setbacks

at one time or another. Injuries, form,

confidence, coaches who are not sure

about you. When Dick Advocaat took

over at Utrecht I thought I had his

confidence but after one week I was

on the bench. But in Almelo the coach

left me in the team even when things

weren’t going well. He knew I could

be important withgoals and assists.”

And so it proved, as Dessers went

on to dominate the scoring charts

in the Dutch league. There were key

goals too, like the winner over Ajax

in a rare triumph for the provincial

club over the Amsterdam giants. By

mid-season he had created enough

interest that there were talks with

Celta Vigo and struggling SPAL in

Serie A about aJanuary move,

but neither were concluded.

“I do have the ambition to still

play in one of the top five leagues in

Europe but it was not to be this time

around because of the coronavirus.

I think the crisis

made it difficult

for the agents

in the transfer

market,” he

added. But

Genk was

a more than

satisfactory alternative. It was the

club he supported as a boy, having

had trials there as a seven-year-old

and he often played against them

in preseason scrimmages with his

first professional club OH Leuven.

“I had long dreamed to play in

their stadium. Hard work has paid

off and I’m now where I want to be.”

Next then is to win a first cap

for Nigeria. Dessers popped over

to London to speak to Super Eagles

coach Gernot Rohr in the early part

of the year and not long after received

a call-up for two Africa Nations Cup

qualifiers in March against Sierra

Leone. The matches were put on

ice by the pandemic but will likely

be played in November.

“That was painful because I thought

it could have been one of the best

moments of my life, certainly my

career.”

That debut is not far away, even with

stiff competition for places in Nigeria’s

attack – not least from Napoli’s new

€60m man Victor Osimhen. Still, if

Dessers can reproduce at Genk what

he did at Heracles last season, he will

be more than worth his place.

Mark Gleeson

New signing...Dessers

signed for Genk at

the end ofJune

“I do have the ambition to still

play in one of the top five leagues

in Europe but it was not to be this

time around”

Cyriel Dessers

Cyriel Dessers

Eredivisie top scorer targeting international recognition at new club

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