Cyriel Dessers has said he is happy to play under pressure at new club KRC Genk because that will push him to excel.

Hometown club Genk have splashed four million Euros on Dessers, who was top scorer in Holland this past season.

“There will always be pressure, but that is normal when you come to a big club. But that is also nice, because that’s what I do it for. I prefer to play with pressure, than without it,” he told the Genk YouTube channel.


The Super Eagles call-up opened his goals’ account for his new club in a 4-1 win over Dutch club Excelsior.

He said it was a great feeling to do so.

“The headline is off, as they say,” he said.

“I was close to scoring a few times. I hit the crossbar and an attempt was cleared off the line.

“Fortunately I play in a good team and then you know that there is always a chance (to score). “It was nice to have made that first goal and hopefully it will not be the last.”

Yes, there is all those attributes you mentioned but Victor is not lacking technically and his mentality is very sound. Rock-solid in fact.

And Lille's style wasn't only about using Victor's pace. They also built plays mainly from the wings and sometimes centrally and found him in dangerous areas in the box to finish the job. Apart from Victor's pace, they used Victor's high sense of positioning and finding space. Napoli plays just this way and more. This is part of why Victor will fit in nicely.


And like I already said, Serie A is much stronger and on a higher plane than Ligue 1. That's where the challenge is in this step-up for Victor but that is why it is called A CHALLENGE in the first place. Just like how he moved from the Belgian Jupiler to a higher plane in French Ligue 1.


And yes, he will be entering a much stronger dressing room but Victor's mentality surely matches whatever he will meet. His strong sense of worth and Fearless mental attitude will put him in good stead within the dressing room at Naples. This is one of the attributes Rino Gattuso saw that made him go all in for Victor to make him the number 1 transfer priority for Napoli this summer. Gattuso knows in Victor, he is getting not only a true striker but a real fighter on the field. A warrior with a tough mentality and a winning attitude who hates losing.

Even Mertens, A Belgian international, made enquiries form friends at Victor's former club, Charleroi in Belgium, about Victor and he confirmed he got very glowing reports about the lad's talents and mentality and Mertens said and I quote... "Victor is the kind of player Napoli needs"

That is Mertens, one of the strongest personalities in Napoli's dressing room already leaning towards Victor. That's a great sign.

Additionally, Victor won't be alone in settling down with his teammates. He would have the company of a friend from his time at Lille in Gabriel Magalhaes also joining Napoli.

So Komekn, the signs are more good than bad. The stage is set. Bring three plates sef of the Carbonera pasta and let's dine. Bring it on! Victor will be ready.

komekn:


There is technical ability, natural attributes and mentality.

All through his career he has played as the focal point as a true number 9.

In Lille everything goes through him, he was the Messi of the team. When you get the ball you have one main job find Osimhen.

He uses pace and they in the team use his pace as focus of their attacks. They don't even have to look just drop the ball behind the defence and know Victor will be there. Victor Osimhen did more sprints than any other player in French league one.

I dont think it will be the same in Seria A and in Napoli. That's the challenge.

Mentality, I know about different clubs and the team dynamics RACE is absolutely an issue. Playing in Lille is like being in Lagos you immediately feel at home.

When you go into the dressing room of Crystal Palace and when you go into Burnley it is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT ATMOSPHERE as a black man and how you are welcomed. That attitude in the dressing room can sometimes make or break you.

The only black player l see in Napoli is Koulibaly Eéeeeeee just get as he be. Just hope it works out for him, no more jollof rice it's Carbonera pasta.

Talented Italian-Nigerian midfielder Michael Folorunsho is on the radar of newly-promoted Italian Serie B outfit Reggina.

According to Gazzetta del Sud (via tiforeggina), Reggina Sporting Director Massimo Taibi has identified Folorunsho to bolster the midfield due to his physicality.

The 22-year-old joined Lazio in the summer of 2019 before embarking on a two-season loan deal with Bari which runs out at the end of the 2020-2021 season.

Reggina signing Folorunsho hinges on Bari failing to secure promotion to the Italian second-tier at the end of the Serie C playoffs.

So far this season, the Roma-born midfielder has made 15 appearances for the Biancorossi but he could have been involved in more games if not for an injury he suffered at the beginning of the season that kept him out of action for two months.

Prior to joining Lazio, Folorunsho played for Tor Sapienza, Savio and Virtus Francavilla, and he's tied to the Eagles until 2024.

elyte89:


U left d main topic abt simmy...and decided to comment on "Bobby " with just a paragraph.. Bobo yi sick

Elyte, abeg no make me laugh here...Sebi you see your guy. I saw same thing and wondered but no be everything person gat quote. See, it's his choice anyway. He decided to focus on the last paragraph and leave the headline... Komekn is such a mood abeg. A stress reliever... Hahahahahahahaha

Am beginning to feel like Pep doesn't like African players.
What is he looking at when Osi is waiting to be taken, Gabby needs a push, he's not growing as he should, the presence of Osi in ManC will bring out the best in both strikers.
Just thinking aloud

oloriooko:
Am beginning to feel like Pep doesn't like African players.
What is he looking at when Osi is waiting to be taken, Gabby needs a push, he's not growing as he should, the presence of Osi in ManC will bring out the best in both strikers.
Just thinking aloud

This table you are shaking.... Don't let Andy and GoodJoe come for you.

Transfer news

23 yrs old Nigerian forward, Chinonso Nnamdi Offor has joined Latvian giants, RIGAS FS from fellow Latvian side, BFC Daugavpils.

He has four goals and 3 assists from 8 games so far this season in the Latvian Virsliga.

Naija players expected/likely to be in action across Europe today - July 21

✔EPL

Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) vs Aston Villa - Away game.


✔Austrian Bundesliga 2

Wale Musa Alli (SKU Amstetten) vs BW Linz - Away game.


✔Latvian Virsliga

Tolu Arokodare and Olaide Badmus (Valmiera FK) vs FS Metta - Away game.

Dele Alampasu, Kazeem Ojo Aderounmu, Christian Dumte Pyagbara (FK Ventspils) vs Riga FC - Away game.

Rigas FS vs Tukums - Away game for Chinonso's new Team.
**Not certain if Chinonso Nnamdi Offor who just signed for Rigas FS will feature




Bonus: From America.

✔MLS

American-Nigerian, Ayo Akinola (Toronto FC) vs New England - Home game.
**He reps the US at age grade. Eligible for USA, Canada, Nigeria.

oloriooko:
Am beginning to feel like Pep doesn't like African players.
What is he looking at when Osi is waiting to be taken, Gabby needs a push, he's not growing as he should, the presence of Osi in ManC will bring out the best in both strikers.
Just thinking aloud

That's an open secret

ChrisKels:


Didnt see where he asked you that

His constant itch to excrete en

ChrisKels:


Didnt see where he asked you that

Eéeeeeee deh pain you, sorry oh don't go and choke on the Bitterleaf Soup (Ofe Onugbu) or you still deh HUNGRY.



See how he carry my matter for HEAD.

honestly he baffles me a times. so somebody in naples just woke up one day. looked through videos of players, saw osimhen and thought wow dude looks good. hairs not too bad as well. it's not like they would have sent scouts to see him, analyze closely how his game will fit theirs etc. so napoli will just drop a rumored 80m euros in these though covid times on a hunch that victor might come good? they wouldn't have assessed if he's a risk worth taking? or he thinks napoli is some money miss road club that can afford to splash money around? smh

komekn has really irritated me with his obviously biased views these past few days but this one takes the cake. everyone is happy for the lad and the new challenge that awaits him. instead of encouraging him to stay focused knuckle down and work hard to justify napoli's faith in him he's implying he might not work out in naples with nothing at present to show otherwise if victor now does well he will now say we mischievously took him out of context

TheSuperNerd:
@bolded... That's not true. Someone, a stats analyst (non-Nigerian), has but it's not on this thread. Didn't share it here because of time and engagements. Truthfully I cannot share everything I see elsewhere here. I don't have the time for that.
But it was quite an analysis using different stats metrics. I went through it and it shows Osimhen is indeed joining a team not far off from the style he is used to.

It showed from a statistical sample of 674 teams that Lille is in the top 10% of teams similar to Napoli in terms of playing style. So Victor should have no problem settling into his new side since he thrived beautifully at Lille.

The only challenge here is the gap in league quality. Ligue 1 is not so similar to Serie A as Serie A is on a higher plane but that is why this is a step-up and a challenge for the lad. He stepped up from Belgium to France and he flourished so easily in France. Now he is making another step-up and joining a side that suits him perfectly. So time will reveal how the story goes.

I personally expect it to be good... And even better along the line.

Happy Birthday Joe Aribo, a lad who walked into the Super Eagles first XI and instantly became a hit.

Charlesemeka85, AKA Papa Aribo would be Proud.

oloriooko:
Am beginning to feel like Pep doesn't like African players.
What is he looking at when Osi is waiting to be taken, Gabby needs a push, he's not growing as he should, the presence of Osi in ManC will bring out the best in both strikers.
Just thinking aloud

Pep cannot buy all players okay,or your preferred choice of players

Yes pep doesn’t like african players and this doesn’t concern him bidding for osimhen or not,there is haaland ,Martinez and others in the market

Many of you low key want this guy in the epl while Napoli is the best place for him

You want osimhen at mancity when there is Aguero and Jesus there ? You will make a bad agent /adviser

Bring out the best in Aguero also ?

Baba Abeg way you Dey watch ball ?

Mancity is a complete team with Jesus and Aguero

TheSuperNerd:


This table you are shaking.... Don't let Andy and GoodJoe come for you.

Andy don already come for am before reading this your comment

The only part I agree with him is that pep doesn’t fancy black players ,you can tell from the days of almighty Samuel eto ,you already saw how nacho was shipped out

Low key? Do you have any idea of what you typed?
Aguero? Do you even follow football?
Gabby? Didi u read my comment or you are one of those whose sentiment blindfolds their sense of judgement?
Please stop rating Osi low, if given the chance he will bench Gabby anyday anytime!

andrewbaba44:


Pep cannot buy all players okay,or your preferred choice of players

Yes pep doesn’t like african players and this doesn’t concern him bidding for osimhen or not,there is haaland ,Martinez and others in the market

Many of you low key want this guy in the epl while Napoli is the best place for him

You want osimhen at mancity when there is Aguero and Jesus there ? You will make a bad agent /adviser

Bring out the best in Aguero also ?

Baba Abeg way you Dey watch ball ?

Mancity is a complete team with Jesus and Aguero

TheSuperNerd:
Happy Birthday Joe Aribo, a lad who walked into the Super Eagles first XI and instantly became a hit.

Charlesemeka85, AKA Papa Aribo would be Proud.

He ain't no hit yet, he has only had two good games, it is still early days. I wouldn't want to make same mistake I made with Brian Idowu. He has moved to lowly rated Scottish league and hasn't lit it up to convince us that he is truly a quality player, more so, no team from an elite league seems to be looking his.

Still on Joe Aribo's birthday

Joe Aribo's got a huge fan from Glasgow called Corey McCarter who mimicked Aribo's hairstyle in honour of Aribo's birthday. Awwwww...

komekn:


Eéeeeeee deh pain you, sorry oh don't go and choke on the Bitterleaf Soup (Ofe Onugbu) or you still deh HUNGRY.



See how he carry my matter for HEAD.

You have started again. If I decide to make you choke on your stupid utterances now, the lowlifes in here would start crying blue murder

andrewbaba44:


Andy don already come for am before reading this your comment

The only part I agree with him is that pep doesn’t fancy black players ,you can tell from the days of almighty Samuel eto ,you already saw how nacho was shipped out

I find this very hard to believe..pep has been shipping off players he thinks doesn't suit his style of play regardless of race or continent..one of those who got the worse treatment was Joe Hart.

Kaiiii....lol.. Na wa for you ooo. He came on his debut and scored (yeah Idowu did that too). Repeated same feat with a top class performance against Brazil (Idowu didn't do this!). Idowu is not Aribo abeg. Aribo was also very decent against Benin Republic and okay against Lesotho. He's been an instant hit so far and has not lost his spot since he came in.

Just give him props for now. Competition still dey going forward but so far Aribo has been very good overall.

ChrisKels:


He ain't no hit yet, he has only had two good games, it is still early days. I wouldn't want to make same mistake I made with Brian Idowu. He has moved to lowly rated Scottish league and hasn't lit it up to convince us that he is truly a quality player, more so, no team from an elite league seems to be looking his.

Odunayaw:
His constant itch to excrete en

The boy and cheap clout-chasing na 5&6

oloriooko:
Low key? Do you have any idea of what you typed?
Aguero? Do you even follow football?
Gabby? Didi u read my comment or you are one of those whose sentiment blindfolds their sense of judgement?
Please stop rating Osi low, if given the chance he will bench Gabby anyday anytime!

I don’t rate osi low

But you are the one that don’t follow football to think osimhen will have a chance at city

Make we self Dey talk true at times

What happened to Aguero if I may ask for that question mark you put up there

You said if given the chance but you know he won’t be given the chance at that team as far as pep is there .

I Dey realistic no mean say I no rate player

Even man united or Chelsea self osimhen won’t be given the chance there .

I should be the one asking if you follow football or not

People have analyzed Osimhen’s attributes to see if he is good for how Napoli is set up to play and opinions have differed. I agree with everything else you said !

komekn:


There is nothing in any contract that guarantees you get a starting spot.

They manager can promise you everything but if its not written it's just a promise to be easily broken.

When Balotelli came to Liverpool Brendan Rogers promised him everything but gave him nothing. If you ask Raheem why he left Liverpool it was primarily because of broken promises by Brendan.

When people buy experienced strikers a reason is adaptability and consistency.

Nobody has assessed Osimhen attributes and how they will converge with the style of play in Napoli and Seria A. We just assume.

Serious players do a lot of personal homework about a team even before they touch the first ball. The managers philosophy, the team ethos, the influencing characters in the team. Those yoi need to make your friends so you can succeed, etc, etc.

The work starts now.

TheSuperNerd:
Kaiiii....lol.. Na wa for you ooo. He came on his debut on scored. Repeated same feat with a top class performance against Brazil. Idowu is not Aribo abeg. Aribo was also very decent against Benin Republic and okay against Lesotho. He's been an instant hit so far and has not lost his spot since he came in.

Just give him props for now. Competition still dey going forward but so far Aribo has been very good overall.

Not sold on him yet. Took me quite long to start trusting a player like Ndidi let alone Aribo who plies his trade in Scotland

rabzy:


I find this very hard to believe..pep has been shipping off players he thinks doesn't suit his style of play regardless of race or continent..one of those who got the worse treatment was Joe Hart.

Maybe I am wrong ,but I just feel pep doesn’t like black player

If you are a black player then you must be so good to convince pep ,maybe you must be world class ,Eg yaya toure,seydou Keita

Why did pep not give nacho a chance ? He rather went to purchase Jesus from Brazil

Nacho will be a better player than Gabriel Jesus if pep believed in him

Osimhen is on the right track. Not a finished striker. Still has room to develop. Napoli will be a good challenge. If he succeeds there, the sky is the limit for him.

andrewbaba44:


I don’t rate osi low

But you are the one that don’t follow football to think osimhen will have a chance at city

Make we self Dey talk true at times

What happened to Aguero if I may ask for that question mark you put up there

You said if given the chance but you know he won’t be given the chance at that team as far as pep is there .

I Dey realistic no mean say I no rate player

Even man united or Chelsea self osimhen won’t be given the chance there .

I should be the one asking if you follow football or not

Joebie:
Osimhen is on the right track. Not a finished striker. Still has room to develop. Napoli will be a good challenge. If he succeeds there, the sky is the limit for him.

Agreed

It's alright. It's okay to keep observing a player. But he has been impressive as a Midfielder for Rangers, bagging a good number of assists from deep or behind the striker and he also shows decent versatility.
Another fine season in 2020/21 could have some decent clubs from better leagues looking at him. He really has impressed even in the Europa.

ChrisKels:


Not sold on him yet. Took me quite long to start trusting a player like Ndidi let alone Aribo who plies his trade in Scotland

komekn:


Managers make up their mind up about players very quickly.

Then you have an uphill task to prove that your good enough. Remember that saying about "First impressions last"

Go and look at the squad of Huesca and look.at how many are loan moves from all over the place, it looks half or more of the team are loan moves.Then the next group are free transfers and then a few are actually bought.

Club no get money.

They will get a lot more players in for La Liga what they have will see them relegated immediately.

So he is going to have more competition in midfield with much needed players coming in. How will he survive better quality competition.

Time will tell.

This isn't absolutely true sha

Tamunotonye22:



I love your point of, very direct and positive. I also expect him to do so, the Serie A is now active like the early 20s and the influx of attackers shows that they are about to take over. I remember when their were lots of Nigerians in the top clubs of series A, big step for osimhen and this should also be a challenge to the others who think playing in the Dutch league or Latvian league should be praised.

When? Mention 10

jihday:
When? Mention 10

Lol was there a time we even have 10 players in the whole of seria A ? Let alone players in top clubs