Rangers have been told they could live to regret not signing Lawrence Shankland or Bojan Miovski with Cyriel Dessers maybe too inconsistent to be relied upon in a Scottish Premiership title race.
After a sudden burst of form either side of Christmas, last week’s 2-1 win over Aberdeen was a return to the mean. Cyriel Dessers, clinical in previous outings, was back to snatching at chances, wasteful and wayward as Rangers made very hard work of Neil Warnock’s deep-lying Dons.
Despite the undoubted improvements in his game since Philippe Clement replaced Mick Beale in the Ibrox dugout, Dessers still has just eight goals in 21 league games. Lawrence Shankland and Aberdeen’s own Bojan Miovski, in contrast, have 17 and 13 respectively, while breaking the 20-goal barrier across all competitions.
And, speaking to Clyde Super Scoreboard, former Scotland international Charlie Mulgrew wonders if Rangers’ inability to bring a new striker to the blue side of Glasgow could see trophy adorned with green-and-white ribbons again come May.
Rangers still relying on Cyriel Dessers
“Dessers looks to me as if he needs three chances before he can score. Three or four chances,” says Mulgrew. “If they hit the balls over the top in behind for Dessers, I wouldn’t fancy him to score.
“And I think they missed a trick there by not signing Lawrence Shankland or Bojan Miovski.”
Miovski, valued at around £8 million according to Sky Sports, was always likely to be beyond Rangers’ reach in the winter window. Shankland, the division’s Golden Boot leader, would have cost a similarly hefty fee, with CEO Andrew McKinlay indicating that any Premiership club looking to take the prolific goal-poacher away from Hearts would have to part with a national record fee of over £4.5 million.
Philippe Clement’s side can go top tonight
Rangers host Ross County at Ibrox tonight, Dessers likely to start again with Danilo still unavailable. a win over a team sitting second-from-bottom will see Clement’s side draw level with Old Firm rivals Celtic at the top.
Rangers can even move into pole position if they beat Ross County by more than two clear goals.
