Leganes, Antwerp were interested in Super Eagles fringe star before Eredivisie switch

One of Nigeria’s newest stars returned to the Dutch top-flight after a year in Belgium that didn’t go as planned

KRC Genk have confirmed that there were offers from fellow Belgian side Antwerp and Spanish club Leganes for Nigerian forward Cyriel Dessers before he opted to join Feyenoord.

Former Heracles star Dessers finished as the Eredivisie top scorer in the 2019-2020 season before switching to Genk last summer.

But his stay at the Luminus Arena was far from productive as the 25-year-old watched many games from the sidelines.

At the same time, compatriot Paul Onuachu took all the applauds and limelight as the Smurfs’ prolific number nine.

Dessers hoped he would get his chance as Racing’s leading man when Onuachu makes a big-money move this summer. But, despite interests from a couple of clubs in the English Premier League, no one made an official bid for the former FC Midtjylland ace.

With Onuachu staying at Genk and the club adding Chelsea academy graduate Ike Ugbo to the mix, Dessers moved down the pecking order, forcing the one-cap Super Eagles forward to seek a loan move abroad.

Genk’s technical director Dimitri De Condé has revealed that Dessers could have ended up at Antwerp or Leganes, but Feyenoord was the quickest to strike a deal.

“Antwerp polled, and he (Dessers) was almost finished with Leganes,” said Condé, as per VoetbalPrimeur. 

“Feyenoord suddenly came, and an agreement was found.

“We believe that Cyriel has the potential to be the first striker at Genk.

“Paul (Onuachu) stayed with us, which only really became clear in the last days of the market. Cyriel is very ambitious, and that’s why we thought along with him.”

Dessers could make his Feyenoord debut when the Rotterdam-based club makes the trip to Israel to face Maccabi Haifa at the Sammy Ofer Stadium in a Europa Conference League clash on September 14.

And he will later get the chance to add to his Eredivisie goal haul, which already places him among the top-scoring Nigerian stars in the Dutch elite division.