Heracles Almelo of Holland’s Nigerian-born striker, Cyriel Dessers has confessed that he has an ambition to play for the Super Eagles, but admits getting an invitation to the team will not come easy, because there are many other players all across the world also seeking calls to the squad, megasportsarena.com reports.
The 24-year-old Dessers has opted for a future with the Eagles, in spite of being born in Leuven, Belgium to a Belgian father and Nigerian mother, stressed that his desire has been burning for a long while, hence his decision not to even make himself available for Belgium at youth level.
The strong centre-forward, who is a little over six-feet tall, started his career at Oud-Heverlee Leuven in the Belgian lower league and, although he only made a single senior appearance against Mons in March 2014, he joined their local rivals, SK Lokeren the following season.
During the 2013/14 season, Dessers stood out in the reserves and youth competitions for OH Leuven, scoring over 20 goals and, with the main team in danger of relegation and several first team strikers injured or suspended, he was given time in a 3–2 away loss to Mons.
From that point, he went on to enjoy regular playing time and scored seven goals in 40 games across two seasons, after which he moved on to Holland to join NAC Breda in the summer of 2016, and helped them gain promotion to the top-flight Eredivisie with 29 goals in 40 matches.
A spell at FC Utrecht soon elevated him into the deal with Heracles this summer and his 13 goals in 16 appearances have set tongues wagging, especially after he went on to become top scorer in the league with 11 goals and was named November Player of the Month.
Incidentally, a report by webmagazine24.i indicates that Italian lower division side, Cagliari are interested in signing Dessers in the January transfer window, with one of the club’s ex-players, Andrea Cossu awed by the player’s form during a trip to Holland.
Dessers, who equaled the best half form scorecard of any season in his career so far when he got a brace in last weekend’s league match against ADO Den Haag, caught the eye of Cossu and the Cagliari legend has now recommended that the striker should be bought by La Rossoblu.
All that appears to have set the stage for Dessers getting a merited invitation to the Eagles, and the towering lad is happy that his performance has caught the attention of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), but he admits it will not be a stroll into the three-time African champions.
Dessers told Sporza: “There has already been contact with the Nigerian association. After the match against ADO Den Haag, the assistant from Nigeria sent me a message that I was doing well. But that is not going to be easy either because there are 300 million Nigerians worldwide.”
