If Cercle Bruges is 12th in the Belgian championship with 12 points, its striker Kévin Denkey is talking about him. The Togolese scored a resounding hat-trick to carry his team and assert himself as one of the players to watch this season.

Kevin Denkey with his hat-trick ball

Kévin Denkey had a dream weekend. His team, Cercle Bruges, atomized Eupen 5-1 for the 12 day of the Jupiler Pro League . The 21-year-old striker scored a hat-trick (25th , 77th and 86th ) . A hat-trick for history as he becomes the third Cercle Brugge player to score a hat-trick in the Belgian league in the 21st  century and the first to do so at the Jan Breydelstadion since Oleg Iachtchouk in 2010. In addition, the Togolese international (22 caps, 2 goals) has made his full range of strikers speak. He first took advantage of a header released by the opposing goalkeeper on his first achievement. Then, the former Nîmes scored on a deep call and an unstoppable low shot, before closing with a monumental strike from 25 meters.

An XXL performance therefore, in line with its start to the season. In 12 games including 9 starts in Belgian D1, Kévin Denkey has scored 5 goals and 4 assists. While he had scored only 6 goals in 28 matches last season (13 starts) for no offering to his teammates.

Trust, the key to success

At the end of his filled match, Kévin Denkey was inevitably expected by the journalists. The 21-year-old striker did not hesitate to affirm his satisfaction with the microphones. He took the opportunity to explain his performance and thank his coach.

“ A lot of it is also about trust. We had worked with Miron Muslic (his coach, editor’s note) for a long time and we knew how he approached football. He also immediately said that I was his attacker and that he believed in me. Such confidence moves mountains , ”said Kévin Denkey.

Follower of precocity

A native of Lomé , Kévin Denkey trained in France near Nîmes. He will also experience his first pro match with the Crocos very early on , fourteen days before his sixteenth birthday in the Coupe de France. In May 2020, the kid is still noticed. At 18, the striker is playing his first match in Ligue 1 in Monaco. Entering the game in the second half, he scored his first goal in the elite on his first ball, after only 63 seconds on the pitch. Denkey was then 18 years, 8 months and 26 days. History to walk in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor Emmanuel Adebayor who had scored his first goal in Ligue 1 at 18 years and 1 month, also at Louis II but with Monaco.

The previous season, Kévin Denkey had also scored his first achievement in Ligue 2 in his first match. With Togo, the striker knows his first cape on September 09, 2019 at 17 years and 9 months with Claude Leroy as coach. A month later, for his second selection, he scored his first goal against Gambia. Now more seasoned, Denkey will inevitably be expected as the new guide of the Sparrowhawks who have been chasing a qualification for the CAN since 2017. And if the messiah was called Kevin?

Written by Eric Barry

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