Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis (born 15 November 1997) is a Nigerian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and the Nigeria national team.

Club career

Early career

Dennis began his career at Kwara Football Academy Ilorin, located in

Kwara State, Nigeria Kwara State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Kwárà), is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger state, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the internation ...

Zorya Luhansk

In March 2016, Dennis signed with

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League'') ...

club

Zorya Luhansk FC Zorya Luhansk ( uk, ФК «Зоря» Луганськ ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk is based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, because of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team play their games at Slavutych-Arena in Zapori ...

. He made his debut in a game against

Olimpik Donetsk FC Olimpik Donetsk ( uk, «Олімпік» Донецьк ) is a Ukrainian inactive football team based in Donetsk, Ukraine. The club currently doesn't play in any Ukrainian competition due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since its prom ...

on 24 July 2016, where he scored the opener in a 3–0 victory. Dennis started the season on the bench mostly before being given his

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

debut to

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

on 3 November, which ended 1–1. After impressing against Feyenoord, he also played in the Ukrainian side's other group stage games, to Fenerbahçe and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Zorya lost 2–0 in both matches and were eliminated from the group having finished in last place. On 11 December, Dennis scored his second goal in a 2–0 win over Stal Kamianske. His performances attracted both

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

as well as an unknown

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side, who were interested in signing him in the winter transfer window. However, Dennis instead ended up staying with Zorya for the rest of the season, helping them to a third place in the league with his six goals in 22 league appearances.

Club Brugge

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

announced on 30 May 2017 that they had signed Dennis on a four-year-deal for a fee of €1.2 million. He was given the number 42 jersey shirt. Dennis started the season extremely well, scoring five goals in six matches, including one on his debut on 26 July 2017 to

İstanbul Başakşehir ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

, a 3–3 draw and a brace three days later in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

over

Lokeren Lokeren () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second ...

, which finished in a 4–0 victory. On 1 October 2019, Dennis scored twice in a 2–2 draw at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-larg ...

against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

of the

2019–20 UEFA Champions League The 2019–20 UEFA Champions League was the 65th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 28th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Bayern Munich d ...

season.

1. FC Köln

On 25 January 2021,

side

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

announced that they had signed Dennis on a loan deal until the end of the season. He made a total of nine league appearances during his time in Germany.

Watford

On 21 June 2021,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

confirmed they had reached an agreement with Club Brugge for the transfer of Dennis. A five-year contract was signed two days later. On 14 August, Dennis scored on his

debut in their league opener against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, where Watford won 3–2. Dennis was nominated for the

Premier League Player of the Month The Premier League Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 10 ...

award for November 2021 after scoring and grabbing two assists in a 4–1 thrashing of

and scoring in a 4–2 defeat at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

Nottingham Forest

On 13 August 2022, Dennis signed with Premier League side

for an undisclosed transfer fee. Chief scout Tom Burton from Hucknall, highly rated the Nigerian international.

International career

Dennis represented Nigeria at under-23 level before being called up to the senior team. He made his debut on 10 September 2019 in a 2–2 friendly draw to

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, coming on as a 82nd-minute substitute for

Samuel Chukwueze Samuel Chimerenka Chukwueze (; born 22 May 1999) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Serie A club AC Milan and the Nigeria national team. Early life and education Chukwueze was born in Amaokwe Ugba Ibeku, Abia ...

. The

Nigeria Football Federation The Nigeria Football Federation (known as Nigeria Football Association until 2008) is Nigeria's football governing body. It was formally launched in 1945 and formed the first Nigerian national football team in 1949. It joined CAF in 1959 and FIF ...

attempted to call Dennis up to the squad for the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

however accused Watford of refusing to release Dennis and 'baring their fangs'. Dennis was part of the Nigerian squad that lost on away goals with an aggregate score-line of 1–1 to the Black Stars of Ghana in the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club Brugge *

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

: 2017–18, 2019–20

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dennis, Emmanuel 1997 births Living people Association football forwards Nigerian footballers Nigeria international footballers Ukrainian Premier League players Belgian Pro League players Bundesliga players Premier League players FC Zorya Luhansk players Club Brugge KV players 1. FC Köln players Watford F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Nigerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Belgium Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Germany Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in England Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in England English Football League players