Rangers ready to spend big on a new striker this summer | OneFootball

If one Rangers player attracts more discussion than most these days, it’s Belgium’s Nigerian international Cyriel Dessers.

The striker has been about as divisive as they come, and Ibrox Noise has been fairly consistent in defending the boy against what we deem as relatively unfair criticism against his contribution, but we want to ask a definitive question:

Is Dessers good enough to be Rangers’ main striker?

Well, we have a quick answer, and that is no.

Aside 21/22 in which a horrible 13 goals was enough to be top scorer that season (joint between Giorgos Giakoumakis & Regan Charles-Cook) generally speaking 18 is a bare minimum to be top scorer, and that low number itself was nailed by Kris Boyd of Killie in 2018 and then our very own Alfie Morelos the season after.

But really 18 isn’t enough for a Rangers striker, is it. We expect a minimum of 25 give or take, and it’s abundantly clear Cyriel Dessers can’t deliver it.

He’s on 19 but that’s all competitions. In the league it’s a modest 13, and that isn’t enough.

We like Dessers way more than most fans, and he’s contributed a lot more than many players have – he’s also always fit which is useful.

But the pure numbers aren’t there.

Tellingly, Dessers is by far and away the worst in the SPL for wasting big chances, choking 23 of them to Kygo’s 21 (Shankland is at 9) and he’s abysmal for offsides too, leading the way with 30.

For efficiency with shots, he’s good – better than Shankland, in getting more of his (overall slightly less) shots on target. Dessers has had 42 on target, Shankland 45, while Dessers has missed 25 to Shanks’ 45.

But the reality is we need the league goalscorer to be nailing 25+ in a season. That’s probably the level we need our striker at and that’s what Kyogo is at this season, beyond in fact. You have to go back to 2009 for the last time a Rangers striker managed 25 or over, and it was 27 and Boyd.

Dessers at 13 is nowhere near it, and as much as he contributes all round and is absolutely pulling his weight, he’s too wasteful overall to be Rangers’ primary striker.

This summer, Rangers 100% will have to spend big on a quality striker who can find the numbers Rangers need up front.

Crucially, of course, the player in question MUST be able to score against Celtic.

Rangers haven’t had a striker scoring a meaningful goal in a league win against Celtic literally in decades. Kenny Miller did, Steven Naismith did, but this is clutching at straws.

Post-2011, we have had no strikers consistently able to score against Celtic, and Dessers is no different. He even joked that his ‘goal’ that was chalked off because of a stupid Tom Lawrence foul in the build up in the 3-3 was him getting close to a goal v them.

Morelos scored 3, in 23 attempts. He was an abysmal flop. Colak never got any real chance to play against Celtic. And overall our front men just haven’t been up to the task.

What does it cost to get a striker who can score 25+ and a winner or two against ‘them’ lot? Who knows.