“I was close to burning out”- Dessers reveals how mental issues nearly ruined his time at Feyenoord

Super Eagles striker Cyriel Dessers has revealed that he had to see a psychologist to help his solve his mental issue during his time at Eredivisie club Feyenoord, Soccernet.ng reports.

In 2021, Dessers left Genk for a loan deal at Feyenoord due to his lack of game time in Belgium. It was not his his first time in the Eredivisie as he had previous stints at Heracles Almelo and FC Utrecht at the time.

However, the Nigerian striker struggled to adjust quickly as he had competition for Bryan Linssen, who was the established starter at the time. Also, the Feyenoord fans did not entirely back him at the time. They were fond of jeering at him whenever he was on the pitch.

Due to his early struggles, Dessers admits that he started to feel drained mentally. However, he had to see a psychologist to help him out.

That decision eventually paid off for the Super Eagles star, as he reveals that his conversations with his psychologist helped him.

“That conversation took a huge burden off my shoulders. I don’t think I should have waited much longer. I think I was really close to a kind of burnout at that point,” Dessers told Het Nieuwsblad, per Feyenoordpings.

“I started scoring then and I never really stopped after that and my career just kept going up. I think I owe that to that conversation to a large extent. I still talk to him every month.”

Evidently, taking up the services of a psychologist did help Dessers. That season, he registered 20 goals and four assists in 41 appearances. He propelled them to the final of the UEFA Europa Conference League with nine goals. He was also the highest goalscorer of the competition that season.