The leading scorer in the Dutch league Cyriel Dessers has revealed that five years ago he made up his mind he wanted to play for the Super Eagles and not Belgium, where his father is from.
This week, Dessers was issued his green Nigerian passport to move a step closer to making his Super Eagles debut against Sierra Leone next month.
A source close to the Heracles striker told only SCORENigeria: “He said he has been following the Super Eagles for a long time and even though he has played for Belgium at youth level, he had made up his mind five years ago that he wanted to play for Nigeria, where his mother is from.”
His mother is from Lagos.
Dessers was “over the moon” after he held his Nigerian passport, the source told SCORENigeria
“He was very, very happy,” the source disclosed.
“He simply asked ‘so, this is my Nigerian passport?’”
“It took only about three hours to get the passport and the Nigerian embassy in Den Haag was very co-operative.”
Eagles coach Gernot Rohr was thrilled after he was informed Dessers now has his Nigerian passport.
The next step for the striker is to start banging goals in the green-white-green shirt of Nigeria to justify his call-up.
“He cannot wait to play for Nigeria so as to justify his invitation,” the source said.
“He is strong and fast centre-forward with good technique, who knows his way to goal and at the same time plays for the team.
“He will be a great addition to the Super Eagles.”
He is the leading scorer in Holland with 15 goals for modest Heracles.
