Nigeria forward Cyriel Dessers has joined Belgian Pro League club Genk on a four-year deal, reports Completesports.com.
Dessers linked up with the Smurfs from Eredivisie club Heracles Almelo.
The 25-year-old scored 18 goals and provided six assists in 29 appearances across all competitions for Heracles Almelo last season.
He spent one season at the club following his arrival from FC Utrecht last summer.
Read Also: Napoli Confident Of Completing €70m Osimhen Deal
Reacting to the move, Genk’s sporting director Dimitri de Conde said it will enable the player to take his career to the next level.
“Cyriel has developed excellently in the Netherlands as a footballer and as a real goalscorer,” he told the club website.
“He is Belgian, still young and ready to take the next step in his career. The fact that he was a supporter of our club as a child only makes it even better.”
For the Belgian-Nigerian, who had spells at OH Leuven, Lokeren, NAC Breda and FC Utrecht, joining the Smurfs is a dream come true.
“As a little boy you dream of great things. I dreamed of KRC Genk,” Dessers tweeted.
9 Comments
Congratulations.But this move is weird though,you started your career in Belgium,you left for Holland and had a very good season finishing joint top scorer in Holland and moving back to where you started off.I don’t see this as progressive for a 25 years old am afraid.
Meanwhile,if Sadiq Umar moves to Monaco or any of the top teams shouting him out,then your super eagles career may not be as smooth as we earlier thought,because Osimhen Napoli,Iheanacho Leicester and Umar Sadiq Monaco will always get the nod if they are in good form ahead of a player who plies his trade for an average team in Belgium.
I’m not being too hard on Dessers he’s a good lad who has passion for Nigeria and we love him for that and also we do wish him well,and that is why i wish he has made the best career decision to make his super eagles dream a very good experience.
Anyways,i wish you success in Belgium and hope after one season there you are able to move to a club in the top five European league.
Your right my brother
In my opinion the move is a good move. In life sometimes the way forward is going back. Not all movement will seem as progress initially but could be necessary for the next level. Osimhen had to move from Wolfsburg to a belgian side Charleroi before he made his name. it did not look like progress then, but today Osimhen’s progress is now histroy. So banging in goals in Dutch league may not attract other top clubs or top league but Belgian league has always been a good fishing pond for the top 5 league. And it has always favored other Super Eagles players. Players like Moses Simon, Nidi, Victor Osimhen, Kalu and much more have all profited from the belgian league. Currently Emmanul Dennis is about to make a big move from the same league.
So for me all he needs to do is to replicate his form in that league and score doubble digit goals or big among the top 3 highest goal scorrers in the league then the clubs from the Top 5 will come for him.
As per Super Eagles, it is all about current form. If Onuachu from Belgian league could make the Afcon list ahead of Kelechi from Premiership then he just needs to continue his good form he will surely make Genet Rohr’s list. Rohr values Current Form to League name.
@Ikeben
In total agreement with you.
Going from a club,Heracles Almelo,which last major title was in 1941 to Genk, which just surrounded her Belgian league crown to Club Brugge,having been Champions as recent as 2018/2019 season, is nothing but a positive step.
Not forgetting, the Belgian league is higher in the UEFA Club coefficients ranking than the Dutch league; albeit a step higher.
Besides, the Tanzanian,Samatta,who Dessers is replacing, did so well that he was bought and taken to the English Premiership by Aston Villa hence the spotlight could as well be on Dessers if he does the same.
Not forgetting Genk has a better chance of playing in UEFA competitions,be it the Champions league or Europa league which could be a great development for Dessers.
There is lot of positives to be drawn from this move, at the end ,it all depends on what Dessers does on the field. His level of productivity with tell of his rise or not.
In my opinion, this is a good move.
@Ikeben the players you mentioned were below twenty one years old then and where marketable.Football in this day and age is business and clubs are most interested in teenage footballers because of the obvious,and i’m afraid Dessers doesn’t fall into that category.
Meanwhile,Cyril Dessers will be 26 at the end of next season,not many clubs are interested in players that age unless he scores lots of goals and makes a huge impression which many super eagles fans and i wish he does,because he has won us all over,his exemplary spirit and character endeared him to the nation at large.
I think he had better offers,probably the fear of not commanding a regular shirt which may cause him playing for Nigeria could have led to the decision of moving back to Belgium me think.
In life performance will make people forget your age. It is ideal for a woman to marry before 25 but marrying at 30 is still progress. It is ideal to graduate by 20 but graduating from university by 26 is still progress and can still get you a very good job. Not everyone goes through the ideal route but can still land in success.
If he can perform and keep scoring even at 26 he will still get top clubs. After all Igahlo at over 30 still got Tottenham and Man U were hustling for his services. Not to talk of Ronaldo still getting offers at over 30.
So like you admitted all he needs is consistency in goal scoring, he will not be short of offers from top clubs and top leagues irrespective of his age.
I think a move from Heracles to Genk is a step higher in all its ramifications. Genk is a more prestigious club than Heracles, with higher chances of playing in the European competitions.
A top club in the big FIVE is more likely to scout players at Genk than Heracles as in the case of Wilfried Ndidi, Courtois and Mbwawa Samatta just to name a few.
What Dessers needs is a consistent run of games and scoring form to earn regular national invitations.
Congrats to Cyriel on this great move!!!
Hopefully, Victor Osimhen complete his move to Napoli.
…and hopefully more Super Eagles players make “uplifted” moves come the transfer period this summer!!!
Glorious days ahead when we will be watching the UEFA champions league matches with more of our lads starring for both teams !!!
God no dey sleep !!!
@Ikeben I agree with on Osimhen moving from Germany to Belgium. But look at it from this angle. If Osimhen had did very well in Germany like he did in Belgium, he would never take the offer of moving from Germany to Belgium. He took that decision of coming to Belgium out of no choice because due to some unforeseen circumstances, he couldn’t perform in Germany and as such no club was willing to take chances on him except Charleroi. In fact, the coach said he thank God that the risk he took on Osimhen paid off because even one of the clubs that ended behind Charleroi the very season, rejected Osimhen. So you can see why Osimhen had no choice to leave Germany to Belgium. But in the case of Desser, he has done pretty well. I know that the league he left is lower than Belgium but at least he should have gone to Ligue 1. That doesn’t mean he is not a fantastic player. Let us pray for him that he is able to replicate his present form, because I believe if he does, he will not spend more than one season in Genk.