“That was not the case and that was not nice to hear”

Many supporters wanted Cyriel Dessers to stay in Rotterdam last summer and therefore collected money. It was suggested that it would be a salary issue, but that is not true and those rumors were not fun to hear, said the striker. Last season, the Nigerian international played for Feyenoord and was loved for his important goals in the Conference League.

Dessers is currently playing with low-flyer Cremonese in Italy. The team is fighting against relegation and is not in good shape with the nineteenth place. Feyenoord played the championship game on Sunday, but the attacker was not involved in that due to the relegation battle in Italy. The born Belgian was happy for the Rotterdammers. “I wish people a lot,” says the striker at the General Journal. “I am a supporter of the club, I was counting down until the national title was won. The fact that I was not there myself as a player is not a factor for me. It went the way it went. I play in Serie A, I face AC Milan, Internazionale, Juventus and Napoli.”

Last summer, the Legion wanted to collect the lump sum of four million euros to bring Dessers to Rotterdam, but in the end that did not work out. “The fact that I could now also have become champion in Rotterdam, that is not an issue for me. That’s not how it went. There was a lump sum in my contract with Genk. It has never been a question of: just put down that amount and I would have been owned by Feyenoord. It just wasn’t like that. That the club would probably have had more budget later in the summer due to possible transfers, that is correct.”

It hadn’t been a salary issue for Dessers either. “At a certain point, the impression was given here and there that the whole transition was just about the salary I would like to earn. That I would be too high in the tree. That was not the case and that was not nice to hear. We have tried to look for solutions, but to no avail. I signed a contract in Italy and Feyenoord has also moved on. And in an impressive way.”