The transition process embarked upon by Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr, has been quite commendable as the Franco-German tactician continues to give new players across Europe the chance to feature for the national team and having been one of Nigeria’s bright sparks in Europe in the past few seasons, Emmanuel Dennis is being given a chance to stake a claim for a place in the Super Eagles. He is quite nimble, likes to run at defenders and he also likes to get into goal-scoring positions. He made his debut for the Super Eagles in the 2-2 draw against Ukraine this month.
Here are FIVE THINGS you probably don’t know about Emmanuel Dennis;
1. Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis was born in Yola; northern Nigeria. He grew up in the barracks and like a good number of Nigerian footballers, he played on the streets whilst growing up. He played for a football academy in Abuja before featuring for Nigeria’s under-15 side. Playing football as a kid wasn’t too difficult for him as he got the support of his family. His Dad is an officer in the Nigerian Army.
2. Dennis NEVER wanted to play football, he wanted to be a priest or a Medical Doctor because each time he went out to play football amongst his peers, he was not always selected to play.
3. Dennis moved to Ukrainian clubside; Zorya Luhansk in March 2016 and made his debut for the club against Olimpik Donetsk where he scored a goal in a 3-0 victory. Dennis had an impressive spell with the Ukrainian side before joining Club Brugge in the summer of 2017 for a fee of 1.2 million Euros. So far, he has scored 24 goals in 82 appearances for the Belgian side.
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4. Emmanuel Dennis is only the third Nigerian to have scored against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League after his two goals helped Club Brugge secured a famous 2-2 draw with the 13-time European champions in September 2019. The other two players to have achieved this feat are James Obiorah for Locomotiv Moscow in the 2002/2003 season and Ayila Yussuf for Shaktar Donetsk in the 2003/2004 season.
5. In his Spare time, Dennis Plays FIFA on PlayStation and his favourite team on the game is FC Barcelona. He also plays table tennis and basketball in his spare time. According to him, his dream city is Paris and his favourite song is “Despacito”. He prefers Fish to Meat and he loves his mother more than his father.
