Super Eagles call-up Cyriel Dessers was crowned Goal King in Holland last season, but can he also finish top scorer in Belgium after he recently joined hometown club KRC Genk?
Genk have over the seasons produced prolific strikers, from Souleymane Oulare to Mbwane Samatta. But the last time a player from the Limburg club finished as Goal King was in the 2002/2003 season, when Wesley Sonck was joint top scorer.
The club forked four million Euros to snap the 25-year-old Dessers to move from Heracles Almelo after he emerged joint top-scorer in Holland with 15 goals last season.
He also proved to be prolific at other Dutch clubs FC Utrecht and NAC Breda.
However, critics have been quick to point out that he did not exactly set the Belgian league on fire when he previously featured for Lokeren.
Last weekend, he scored the winner on his competitive debut for Genk, but some are still not convinced he can continue to do so.
“He is a goal getter, but otherwise you should not expect too much from him,” said Arnar Vidarsson in Extra Time.
“I didn’t think he played that well against Zulte Waregem either.
“You expect goals. Becoming a top scorer in the Netherlands is easier than becoming a top scorer in Belgium.
“If he wants to be a top scorer this season, it will have to be better.
“But I wish the boy well.”
Het Laaste Nieuws blamed bad luck for his failure to put away a couple of easy chances at Zulte Waregem, but he still ended as match winner when he tucked away a penalty.
Deadly finishers do not need many opportunities to score, but with Dessers this is not immediately the case.
Against Zulte Waregem, he needed four chances – including the penalty kick – to score his first goal league goal for Genk.
This translates to 25% chance of a goal for each attempt fired towards the target, and with that Dessers performs a lot less efficiently than the other strikers in the current year of the Jupiler Pro League.
On the opening weekend in Belgium, five strikers hit target – team mate Paul Onuachu, Igor De Camargo (KV Mechelen) and Yuma Suzuki (Sint-Truiden) only had one chance to score a goal, while Marius Noubissi scored twice from five chances.
Onuachu, De Camargo, Suzuki thus finished at 100%, Noubissi at 40%. With 25%, Dessers is the least efficient striker who could score last weekend, but he did score from the spot.
In Holland last season, he made 81 attempts before he netted his 15 goals for Heracles. That would be an 18% conversion rate.
Dessers was therefore not very efficient in the Eredivisie last season, and during his first match for KRC Genk he also missed a lot of opportunities.
The question is then whether Dessers could really be the “killer” hope for by Genk after they made a substantial investment of four million Euros on him.
What favours Dessers is that he create chances.
In the Eredivisie, 55% of his chances were on target, making him the second-best central attacker after Myron Boadu (AZ Alkmaar), who managed one percent better than Dessers.
The new striker of KRC Genk must therefore try to be more convincing in his goal attempts.
It was based on his many goal attempts that Dessers netted 15 goals in the Eredivisie.
With 0.55 goal per 90 minutes, he was one of the most regularly scoring central strikers in the Netherlands.
Only Boadu (0.6 goal per 90 minutes) and Donyell Malen (PSV Eindhoven, 0.79 goal per 90 minutes) were ahead of Dessers.
The 25-year-old front man was certainly not the most efficient striker from the Eredivisie, but he was still very effective.
Last season, Cyriel Dessers won the Dutch top scorer title, but whether he will do same in Belgium this season is not clear.
The new Genk striker already opened his goals’ account against Zulte Waregem, but what really stood out on the day was the several chances he squandered.
That was also the case at Heracles Almelo last season, despite the fact that no one in the Eredivisie scored more goals than the 25-year-old.
In the Jupiler Pro League, the difference between effectiveness and efficiency may play a bigger role in the battle for the Golden Boot.
It is up to Dessers to prove he could also be the hot shot in Belgium as he was in Holland.
Adapted from Voetbalnieuws
