Cyriel Dessers confirms he wants to stay at Rangers | OneFootball

Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers has broken his silence on his potential exit by admitting there is interest in him, but he wants to stay at Ibrox.

The Nigerian hitman, not the most loved striker Rangers have ever had, suffered a difficult first season that, despite his strong numbers, wasn’t lauded by supporters and indeed maybe felt borderline hated by those meant to back him.

Despite 31 goals and assists in 54, Dessers failed to win over the fans, and was lambasted more than most for ‘falling short’, and it had been understood this window he’d handed in a transfer request.

It seems that’s changed, and it’s mainly changed because he’s the only fit striker Rangers have, and the club really needs him.

He said to Belgian media:

There is no question he’s liked by his team mates, and the manager rates him as well, it’s just the supporters who decided after a couple of high-profile misses that Dessers was a fail.

It must be noted he’s the only Rangers striker aside Alfredo Morelos to score against Celtic since around 2012, doing so inside his first season and not taking years like the Colombian did.

Is he a good enough solution? Rangers probably need more overall, but Dessers’ stats make for surprise reading:

Dessers is behind only Lawrence Shankland for goal conversion rate in terms of Hearts, Celtic and Rangers’ forwards. Yes, Dessers beats all forwards at Celtic Park. And yes, he beats Bojan Miovski too.

He is behind only Shankland for shots on target too – 49 to Shanks’ 50. Shots off target? He’s just 31, 6th place behind Sima, Shankland, Kyogo, Miovski and Vassell. Shanks is 50.

In simple terms, his goal conversion rate is second only to Shankland, and second only to the same man for shots on target.

He’s a lot better and less wasteful than Shanks and the other five for shots off target.

His one big blot is big chances missed – 27. Kyogo is 24 and Miovski is 16. Shanks is only 9. Dessers is the worst in the league here.

So overall, yes, Dessers will blow big chances, there’s no denying he will do that. And he’s terrible for offside, also worst in the league.

But when it comes to efficiency with shooting and overall goal conversion, Dessers is a lot more clinical than many fans give him credit for.

He’s happy at Rangers, and now knows he’s number one striker for sure – Danilo has a long way to go to be fit.

But if a good bid does come in for him, he may well take his opportunity to try something new.

As things stand, Rangers probably can’t sell him – we have no major centre forward aside him, and unless that dramatically changes, Rangers will go into the new season with Dessers the main hitman.