Philippe Clement might be about to be handed a nightmare scenario for the next month but for once, the injury jinx hasn’t hit Rangers.
The African Cup of Nations has already seen the Gers boss lose Abdallah Sima at a crucial time of the season but he could be about to be joined by one of his teammates.
An injury to Victor Boniface just before the big kick-off has seen Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro in a panic, having to promote Umar Sadiq but could this mean that Philippe Clement is about to lost another Rangers player.
Philippe Clement could have Rangers striker nightmare
Cyriel Dessers was in Nigeria’s original squad list for the tournament but lost out when it was whittled down.
However, with Boniface looking like he could be out for some time, as revealed by Fabrizio Romano, and Kelechi Iheanacho also struggling for fitness, Dessers might be next on the list.
Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey started on the bench for their friendly defeat to Guinea and Sadiq, now a £17m player at Real Sociedad did himself no favours by drawing a blank in a game they would have expected to win.
Speaking after announcing his squad, Peseiro explained how he cut 16 players to get down to 25:
“For the ones who aren’t in the final squad, there are players who showed good performance for their clubs, but didn’t do well in the national team.
“Also, there are players who do well for the national team and didn’t do well for their clubs.
“So we looked at current form, if they are playing well and showed good condition and came up with the final list.
“It was not easy to choose the 25 players, but it was my responsibility and I hope and pray they play well for us.“
Every national team manager tries to build a club ethos so, having not played for his country for nearly four years, it’s easy to see why Dessers was down the pecking order.
Things change fast in international football though and for all that Victor Osimhen is a class act, he won’t be able to do it on his own.
A forward pairing of Dessers and Sadiq – where do you start?
Philippe Clement is already without Danilo and Kemar Roofe, losing Dessers would see just Fabio Silva as the only central option.
If he didn’t need reinforcements before, he definitely will if Dessers gets the call.
