How Chelsea missed out on 12-year-old Cyriel Dessers

English Premier League club Chelsea reportedly missed the opportunity to sign current Super Eagles striker Cyriel Dessers early on when he was a young boy.

Dessers, who now plies his trade for Italian Serie A side Cremonese, had reportedly registered on Chelsea's radar earlier but the club passed up on the opportunity to bring him onboard.

The Super Eagles striker went on to join the Academy side of Belgian club OH Leuven before playing for numerous senior teams including Lokeren, NAC Breda, and KRC Genk.

As recounted by Cyriel Dessers' younger brother Emile, the Cremonese forward went for a summer camp at Chelsea Football Club when he was 12 years old (around 2006).

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In an interview with Italian news outlet Gianluca di Marzio, Emile Dessers revealed that Cyriel Dessers got the opportunity through their uncle who worked at Stamford Bridge at the time.

Emile Dessers said: "Our uncle worked as a volunteer at Chelsea and when Cyriel was about 12 he did a summer camp with the Blues. He learned a lot from that experience."

Cyriel Dessers' younger brother further went ahead to reveal that despite being a fan of Chelsea and visiting Stamford Bridge as a child, Cyriel Dessers' idol growing up was Arsenal's French striker Thierry Henry.

"We also went to visit Stamford Bridge, as a child he was a great fan but his idol was Henry," Emile concluded.

Dessers is currently with the 24-man Super Eagles squad camping in Constantine, Algeria ahead of Nigeria's international friendly with the Desert Foxes of Algeria. 

The 27-year-old is yet to open his goalscoring account at new club Cremonese after impressive stints with Belgian side KRC Genk and Dutch Eredivisie side PSV Eindhoven.