£4.5m Rangers ace could miss out on move to club he was 'very close' to joining in 2021
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In truth, the Rangers fans learned nothing they did not already know about the £4.5 million man during Sunday’s 5-0 Scottish Cup thrashing of fifth-tier Fraserburgh.
This was Cyriel Dessers’ Ibrox career in a microcosm.
The Rangers number nine squandered chances, frustrated the home support, and often made the wrong decision in the final third. But, on the other hand, he also walked off the pitch with the matchball under his arm and a hat-trick against his name, albeit against very limited opposition.
That is the thing with Dessers. He’ll miss the target, he’ll leave fans bemused and confused, but he will never, ever give up.
A tally of 23 goals from 38 Premiership starts is not to be sniffed at. A tally which makes a mockery, really, of the argument some continue to advance about Dessers’ sitting at the same table of Filip Sebo and the worst centre-forwards in Rangers’ modern history.
And, ask yourselves this, if Dessers was to leave Glasgow this month, could Rangers really bring in an upgrade mid-season? Would the likes of Iqraam Rayners and Lawrence Shankland – to name but two of those linked – really bring more to the table? He may be third-choice these days, but a third-choice striker with 16 goals across all competitions.
Leganes could miss out on Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers again
Kris Boyd was torn on the idea of Cyriel Dessers leaving Rangers after he stepped off the bench to put the seal on last week’s 3-0 win over Aberdeen. Philippe Clement, meanwhile, insists that if Rangers do accept an offer from the likes of Cagliari, Empoli or Leganes, a replacement of the same level simply must arrive to take his place.
On the subject of a January exit, things remain up in the air heading into the final few days of the window.
Serie A strugglers Cagliari want Dessers but they can’t afford Dessers. Atlanta United and St Etienne appear to be looking elsewhere. As for Leganes, AS claims that – like Cagliari – Rangers’ demands for a permanent transfer could slam the door on the fingers of the La Liga outfit.
AS adds that Dessers is ‘currently unaffordable’. Leganes are now considering alternative options – a loan deal until the summer would be preferable – but there is a very real chance that lightning strikes twice at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque.
Philippe Clement sends Rangers warning amid Dessers exit talk
Leganes came ‘very close’ to signing Dessers back in the summer of 2021, when he was plying his trade in Belgium with KRC Genk. The Nigeria international even had a medical planned in Madrid, only for Feyenoord to jump in at the eleventh hour and steal Dessers from under Leganes’ nose.
Three-and-a-half years on, with Rangers looking to recoup most if not all of that £4.5 million investment, Leganes would perhaps be lucky even to get to the stage of discussing medical tests this time around.
“It’s a difficult question. If Cyriel goes, you need to replace him,” Clement said after Rangers set up a fifth-round Scottish Cup clash with Queens’ Park. “And [the replacement] needs to be at least the same quality.
“If a player stays and he plays less and he becomes, because of that, unhappy and he goes down this level, while I don’t fear with him, it’s also not good for the club. We will see in the next two weeks what happens.
“I know if he’s here, he will give everything for the club. And, if he leaves, he needs to be replaced by somebody at least of the same quality.”
Dessers himself plans to hold talks with the Rangers bosses as he weighs up his own options.
