Cyriel Dessers’ sluggish start to life at Rangers has left former Ibrox forward Gordon Dalziel wondering what Mick Beale and co saw in the £4.5 million summer signing from Spezia.
The Belgian-born Nigeria international may have opened his Rangers account with the winning goal against Motherwell last weekend but the highly-fortuitous nature of his maiden Premiership strike certainly hasn’t convinced one ex-Ger.
Speaking to Clyde 1’s Superscoreboard, Gordan Dalziel insists that the £4.5 million acquisition has a long way to go before he can justify his hefty price-tag, Cyriel Dessers’ measly tally of three strikes in 12 games across all competitions hardly befitting of a side with silverware ambitions.
Cyriel Dessers yet to impress at Rangers
“As an ex-player and manager, I am never going to go down the road of calling someone a dud because I know how difficult football is,” begins Dalziel, a Scottish League Cup winner with Rangers in 1982. “But he is not my favourite player.
“I don’t think he has offered anything so far. I have seen nothing in him to suggest that he is going to be the guy who is going to take Rangers forward as a number nine. When you wear the number nine jersey and you are a Rangers player, you are judged on goals. You are judged on how dangerous a striker you are.
“And Dessers doesn’t fit that bill for me.”
While no one could claim that Dessers has succeeded in setting the world alight just yet in Scotland, history suggests that this is a striker who could still become a regular source of goals if given time to settle.
A prolific goalscorer in the Eredvisie
Dessers won the Eredivisie’s Golden Boot award with a middling Heracles side in 2020. He also netted 20 times in 41 games for Feyenoord in 2021/22, firing the current Dutch champions into the final of the inaugural Europa Conference League.
There has been little sign of that form as of yet in Rangers blue, however.
“I don’t see what Rangers have seen in him,” Dalziel adds. “It doesn’t mean that he is a bad player. Maybe Scottish football and Rangers are not the fit for Dessers.
“We have seen players come to Rangers and Celtic before and been terrible and everybody wanted to get rid of him and they went on to have terrific careers elsewhere. It happens that some clubs don’t suit you as a player.
“But he has offered absolutely nothing in my opinion.”
Dessers should have the chance to prove Dalziel and his growing throng of critics wrong when Rangers host Aberdeen on Saturday, especially with fellow striker Danilo out injured.
