Genk of Belgium forward Cyriel Dessers says he understands that Napoli forward Victor Osimhen is for now the main striker for the senior national team of Nigeria.
Dessers played in back to back friendly games for Nigeria against Mexico and Ecuador respectively but was an unused substitute on Thursday when they defeated Sierra Leone 2-1 in the first game of the AFCON 2023 qualifiers.
He was asked if he was disappointed not to get a look in considering that he scored Nigeria’s lone goal during the two friendly games in the United States of America which was in the 1-2 loss to Mexico, Dessers said he understands that Osimhen is ahead of him in the national team.
“Victor Osimhen is still the number 1. But in the US he was not there and I got my chance, along with Terem Moffi. It’s a shame we lost those games, but I showed something. Hopefully I’ll be in the squad this week”, he said while looking ahead of tomorrow’s game against Sao Tome and Principe.
In a separate interview he was asked if he feels he should have waited for a call up to the Belgium team who are now in dire need of options in attack. The top scorer in the Europa Conference League with ten goals said when he got the call up to the Nigerian team he didn’t have any doubt in accepting it.
“When the invitation from Nigeria came, I had no doubts. It was a huge honour. In any case, I am someone who stands behind his choices and I do that now. If you have to wait for a possible selection at the Red Devils, then you may have nothing at all,” Dessers starts told Dutch media De Telegraaf .
