Cyriel Dessers sparked a ‘big fight’ at Leuven – but Rangers star is proving cynics wrong and I keep letting them hear it
Cyriel Dessers once kicked off a “big fight” between coaches at his former club OH Leuven, according to a man who watched the Rangers star come up through the ranks.
And as such, there’s now a smile on Hans Vander Elst’s face whenever he bumps into the cynics who doubted him
It was 2014 when Dessers was first starting to make a name for himself at Leuven, who he’d eventually leave for Lokeren without making a first-team appearance.
That didn’t go down well with everyone – certainly not former coach and academy director Vander Elst.
Now director at coaching agency Double Pass, he recalls watching a young Dessers’ first attempts to muscle into the first-team.
And after he scored his 45th goal in his 100th appearance for Rangers at the weekend, there’s a sense of satisfaction. Particularly when he bumps into the coaches and managers he clashed with over the now-Nigeria frontman.
Vander Elst told the Scottish Sun: “As a young player Cyriel would get a lot of chances.
“He was really robust, really strong with a great mentality, great character as well as being such a nice guy. But he was also missing a lot of chances.
“We had a lot of discussions about it at the club even when he was 16 and playing with the second team.
“He would score three goals but miss seven! And the most unbelievable chances he made, and the most unbelievable chances he missed. But even then, he had chances and that was something I always saw as a quality.
“He still scored a lot of goals in the second team so we took him into the first-team squad for training.
“At that time, Leuven were fighting against relegation and the head coach really didn’t believe too much in Cyriel. He didn’t want to give him the opportunity.
“We still managed to get him a proposal for a contract but that’s when he was noticed by other clubs that he had some real potential.
“At Leuven we had a big fight about it. In the end Cyriel left to join Lokeren. He only ever played friendly games for the Leuven first team, never in an official match.
“And sometimes when I see ex-coaches from those days or somebody from the club’s board I say, ‘Hey, remember Cyriel? Look at where he is now and you didn’t want to give him a new contract and you didn’t want to play him’.
“I know Cyriel loved it at Leuven but it’s a pity he didn’t play for the first team. But he is a role model for a lot of kids. I give talks these days on fulfilling potential and Cyriel is a great example.”
Dessers has 23 goals to his name this season despite spending large portions of the campaign on the bench under Philippe Clement.
He’s looked a renewed player under Barry Ferguson in recent weeks and will be on the hunt for more goals when they face Hibs on Saturday.
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