Belgian-born Nigerian striker Cyriel Dessers returns home to join Genk

Belgian-born Nigerian striker Cyriel Dessers returns home to join Genk

Dessers says he dreamt of playing for Genk as a kid.
   
   
   
       
       
           
               
                   

Dessers says he dreamt of playing for Genk as a kid.

               
           
               
                   

Nigerian striker Cyriel Dessers who was born in Belgium has returned home to join Genk from Dutch side Heracles Almelo.

               
           
               
                   

Dessers signed a four-year deal with Genk after a successful debut season with Heracles where he scored 18 goals and six assists in 29 games in all competitions.

               
           
               
                   

The 25-year-old was the joint-leading goalscorer in the 2019/2020 season of the Eredivisie before the season was cancelled due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

               
           
               
                   

The striker is excited to return home to play for his boyhood club. ”As a little boy you dream of great things. I dreamed of KRC Genk,” the striker wrote on Instagram along with a throwback photo of him in a Genk jersey as a kid.

               
           
               
                   

                 

2002 ➡️ 2020

Als kleine jongen droom je van grootse dingen. Ik droomde van KRC Genk.

As a little boy you dream of great things. I dreamed of KRC Genk.

💙

               

               
           
               
                   

"Limburg is where my home is, I was born here. As a little boy, you dream big. My dream was to play for Genk, my team," the striker said in a statement on the club's website.

               
           
               
                   

"I imagined playing in that amazing stadium. In football, you don't get anything for free. Only hard work pays. Hard work to improve every day and to make your dreams come true. Now I'm ready. Now I'm where I want to be."

               
           
               
                   

Genk’s sporting director Dimitri de Conde said Dessers being a longtime supporter makes this move better.

               
           
               
                   

“Cyriel has developed excellently in the Netherlands as a footballer and as a real goalscorer,” Conde told the club website.

               
           
               
                   

                                   

Cyriel Dessers says he dreamt of playing for Genk (Genk)

               

               
           
               
                   

“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.”

               
           
               
                   

Dessers has been handed the No. 9 jersey and joins other Nigerian strikers Stephen Odey and Paul Onauchu at the Belgian club.

               
           
               
                   

The striker started his career in Belgium with OH Leuven and later Lokeren. He later moved to the Netherlands where he played NAC Breda, then playing in the Dutch second-tier and helped them to get promotion to the top division.

               
           
               
                   

He also played for FC Utrecht before he joined Heracles.

               
           
               
                   

Born in Belgium to a Belgian father and Nigerian mother, Dessers has received a call-up to the Super Eagles and was in the squad for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers which were postponed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Source: Belgian-born Nigerian striker Cyriel Dessers returns home to join Genk

- gist culled from pulseng