To think, there were some sections of the Rangers fanbase – some pretty substantial sections of the Rangers fanbase – who wanted him out of Ibrox.
Four games, six goals and one assist later, and suddenly the idea of cashing in on Cyriel Dessers before the transfer window closes next week feels genuinely stomach-churning.
To Philippe Clement’s credit, the Belgian remained consistent in his backing for the oft-maligned number nine even as a frustrated Dessers lost his place to Hamza Igamane in Rangers’ frontline.
It’s safe to say Clement can now consider his faith very much rewarded.
Dessers, seemingly fuelled by the claims that the Glasgow giants could look to move on a man who started the season as their first-choice centre-forward, has played like a man possessed ever since Rangers opened preliminary talks regarding a January sale three weeks ago.
A fabulous solo effort off the bench against Aberdeen felt initially like a parting gift. Instead, it now looks like a turning point.
Dessers followed that up with a Scottish Cup hat-trick against Fraserburgh, a stunning finish at Manchester United, an explosive strike away to Dundee United, and then a mesmerising assist as Rangers secured a top-eight finish in the Europa League at Bodo/Glimt’s expense.
Cyriel Dessers earns Ally McCoist praise as Rangers beat Union Saint Gilloise
Drifting out to the left-hand side 10 minutes after half-time, Dessers squared up Ross Sykes and breezed past Union Saint-Gilloise’s English centre-half.
The resulting cross, meanwhile, was so accurate that goalscorer Vaclav Cerny had the luxury of paying tribute to his rampaging teammate even before the ball crossed the line.
“Dessers has got [Sykes] one-v-one, he doesn’t look comfortable. He cuts it back into a great area, a beautiful area, and you can see it before the ball hits the back of the net Cerny is acknowledging the part from Dessers,” smiled Ally McCoist, a legendary striker who would have relished this kind of service during his own days in the blue shirt.
“It’s a great goal. [Dessers] is very good. He’s got the big fella isolated, he forces him back into the penalty box, cuts the ball into a great area and its a composed finish.”
Dessers would fall short in his attempts to score in a fifth successive Rangers outing, but that was certainly not for a lack of trying.
The £4.5 million signing from Cremonese had a clinical volley ruled out for offside late in the first-half, shortly after he bulldozed his way through a packed penalty area and slotted narrowly wide.
Dessers looks ungainly and uncoordinated at some points yet elegant and balletic at others. Sometimes, he can be described by one of those words at the very same moment.
And this was classic Dessers, wriggling out of a seemingly impossible spot with a combination of never-say-die spirit, some clever footwork and a dash or two of good fortune.
- READ MORE: Rangers Europa League Record Since 2017
McCoist left stunned by ‘unbelievable’ Dessers
“He is the only man of the park who can create something out of that! I mean, that’s unbelievable,” a bemused McCoist roared after Dessers very nearly followed up his Old Trafford blockbuster with another eye-catching, if less aesthetically-pleasing, effort.
“He may be the only man on the planet [who can do this], never mind the park. It’s incredible and he is a little but unlucky [not to score]. If he means that, he is a genius.”
“That’s what you get from that fella.”
In a typically all-action display from Rangers’ tireless Nigeria international, Dessers could even be seen haring back to make a tackle on the edge of his own penalty area with 80 minutes on the clock, McCoist labelling his work ethic nothing short of ‘fabulous’.
“Cyriel Dessers was a proper number nine tonight,” former Gers winger Neil McCann told BBC Sport. “He was superb.”
