Rangers: The two sides of 'bulletproof' striker Cyriel Dessers
2025-01-20
Category: sports

Cyriel Dessers has spent more time than he would have liked on the Rangers bench of late.Partly it's down to the rise of Hamza Igamane. Partly it's down to the striker's own inconsistency. And it's led to speculation over his future at Ibrox.The Nigerian has been linked with moves away this month, but he started and finished the 5-0 Scottish Cup win over Fraserburgh.It was a fruitful afternoon for Dessers, with a hat-trick, an assist, a shot of the captain's armband, and the BBC Scotland player-of-the-match award.And yet these could still be the final days of the 30-year-old's Rangers career.
Watch goals 14, 15 & 16 of Dessers' season
Plenty goals, but plenty missed chances
Highland League part-timers Fraserburgh put up a fight, particularly in the first half. But you would expect a Rangers striker to hit the net against that level of opponent given the chances the Ibrox side create.In the early stages of this win, Dessers was presented with a glaring opportunity. Somehow he skewed it way off target. The offside flag went up but the goal, had it come, may well have stood.Compare that moment to his clinically taken goals. Compare it to a late cameo against Aberdeen in the 3-0 midweek win, where he toyed with a defender before dispatching the ball crisply into the corner. Lethal.
Moment to moment you just don't know what you'll get from Dessers. That's 16 goals for the season in mid-January, with a shot conversion rate of 27.5%. Another 22 last season after joining from Italian side Cremonese in summer 2023 is not to be sniffed at, either. But that came with a strike rate of 16.5%. That's a fair amount of missed chances.His numbers are more than respectable but he still manages to frustrate his own supporters and surely must leave manager Philippe Clement scratching his head."I think it's just the life of striker, you will miss some chances," Dessers told BBC Scotland after the Fraserburgh game."You just have to stay in the game and I know chances will come and then I have to make the next one."
Has Dessers got 'bulletproof mentality'?
Captain James Tavernier is another who has had to endure the grumbling of the Rangers fans at times.Talking after the game, he praised Dessers' ability to "always rise above" the noise and spoke of his delight that his team-mate was rewarded for his efforts. Former Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield, part of BBC Scotland's punditry team for the game, echoed those sentiments."I think 25,000 in here love him and 25,000 don't but he comes across as very relatable, very likeable," Arfield said. "And he looks like a good team-mate."Any good striker that misses a chance, they don't care. They've got this, this selfishness. He goes back for more and that's what you want."Arfield also drew an interesting comparison with a player both he and Tavernier played with at Ibrox."I played here with Alfredo Morelos and he genuinely didn't care how bad he was in games. It was his greatest attribute because he just went back for more.  "I was a player that might have that wee level of, maybe, insecurity, but the best people haven't got it. "They've just got this absolute bulletproof mentality. And Dessers has a bit of that."
Have your say
Rangers fans, what do you make of Cyriel Dessers?Is he a player you'd like to keep at Ibrox? Or has his time come to leave?Let us know here, external