Rangers have struggled to move players on all summer with Philippe Clement having to go into the Champions League qualifiers with the cards that he had been dealt.
The manager can’t force players to leave but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating seeing players still collect a wage from the Ibrox coffers despite not being part of the squad.
The situation surrounding Todd Cantwell and Ianis Hagi is a strange one, however, news of Cyriel Dessers turning down a move to MLS is particularly painful considering the £4.6m that the 29-year old would have brought into the club.
Cyriel Dessers wage demands see Rangers exit collapse
Italian transfer journalist Luca Bendoni, who is part of Gianluca Di Marzio’s team, broke the story on X but has been speaking to Rangers News about why it collapsed.
Bendoni hinted on X that the decision came down to Dessers he has provided more insight into the failed transfer:
“Atlanta United and Rangers FC were close to reaching an agreement, in a previous stage of the current transfer market window.
“The fee being discussed was around 6 million dollars (£4.6m). By the way, an agreement wasn’t found on the economic and personal terms between player-side and Atlanta.
“Therefore, the parties did not proceed to seal it.”
This story sums up Rangers entire summer.
Dessers tale has made the news but how many other times has this happened?
Sam Lammers seemed to have priced himself out of a move to the Eredivisie only for Twente to dig deep and pay the sort of wage that they are unaccustomed to.
Cantwell and Hagi are both good players, the latter in particular should have a higher stock after the European Championships and yet he is still stuck playing with the B team.
Clement’s point proven as Dessers stays put
Philippe Clement has spoken at length about the wage bill, about getting it down and about making sure that Rangers get value for money.
Something that can’t currently be said about players like Kieran Dowell, Ben Davies or Rabbi Matondo.
There are others on the list that the Gers boss would probably be happy to see the back of but he knows that the rebuild is going to take time.
In fairness to Cyriel Dessers though, at least he is earning his keep.
Three goals and an assist in four and a half games is a more than respectable return and, if he keeps this current rate up, it could well be the biggest turnaround that Rangers have seen since fans wrote a song for the big number nine last season.
