The definitive acquisition of Cyriel Dessers involves more than just putting the agreed option amount of four million euros on the table for Feyenoord, technical director Frank Arnesen tells. Football International† The weekly speaks of ‘a loose end’ in the rental deal that was concluded on August 31 between Feyenoord and Racing Genk. “We have an option, yes, with Genk”, Arnesen begins.
“The price is known: four million euros,” continues the Dane. “But that’s not the only thing. We have not yet been able to talk to Cyriel about the conditions for a possible longer stay. Because his transfer only came about a few minutes before the transfer deadline closed, there was no time for that anymore.” Although Feyenoord can trigger the option in the lease, it still has to discuss his salary with Dessers.
“He was already in Madrid, was going to sign with Léganes, when I got his agent on the phone: ‘It looks like it’s not going ahead, are you looking for a striker?’, Arnesen quotes. “We were definitely looking for that one. I said: take him to a hotel, we’ll take care of the rest. Our in-house lawyer Joris van Bentem then went to work like a rocket to complete all formalities on time. Everything was ready at five to twelve, but we could no longer make agreements with Cyriel about a possible future contract.”
Dessers subsequently performed well beyond expectations: the Belgian scored nine goals in 27 Eredivisie matches and no less than ten in the Conference League (12 matches). “He is invaluable to us,” Arnesen says. “The crazy thing is that Bryan Linssen ran like a charm before the winter break, but whenever Dessers came in, he scored. And not just like that; he decided one game after the other. In the meantime, the situation is such that we have to see whether we can keep him.” Because those excellent performances will also attract a lot of interest from abroad, Arnesen knows.