Cyriel Dessers Itches For Danilo Strike Partnership

Cyriel Dessers Itches For Danilo Strike Partnership

Ibrahim Lateef

Cyriel Dessers says he knows all about Danilo's qualities as a forward and hopes the pair can form a formidable strike partnership at Ibrox, BSNSports.com.ng has sourced.

The Nigerian star joined the club from Serie A side Cremonese earlier in the summer, joining Sam Lammers and loanee Abdallah Sima in giving Rangers' attacking department a complete overhaul after the departures of Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent. Boss Michael Beale wasn't stopping there though and felt he needed one more forward option to complete the jigsaw.

That man was Danilo, who finally joined from Feyenoord for a fee of worth up to £6million after a long-drawn-out chase from Rangers for the Brazilian star, who was desperate to sign for the Govan giants in the end.

As a result, the club's firepower in forward areas has clearly never been stronger under Beale's stewardship and it's got Dessers thinking about the potential competition he'll now face to claim a regular starting berth every week.

But on the flip side, while the former Genk and Feyenoord frontman understands he'll need to stand out above the crowd at Rangers, he's eager to form relationships with his fellow new strikers too and one of those is Danilo.

The pair have already crossed paths in the Eredivisie but now that they are at the same club, Dessers is hoping Beale is as eager as him to help develop the pair as a lethal strike partnership in the Premiership.

Dessers said after his side's 2-2 draw with Hoffenheim on Saturday: "When you play at a top club there will always be competition. Danilo and I need to make each other stronger. But it could be a partnership. I don’t want to tell everyone the plans of the coach but we could play together. He’s a great striker.

"I played a lot against him in the Netherlands so I know him as a player. I think we could work together. I watched a lot of Feyenoord games last season and Danilo will bring goals to Rangers. He’s good in combinations and can provide assists as well. Not all strikers can do that but he can.

Meannwhile, Dessers took the time to provide an update on his current fitness state. The striker missed a large portion of games at the end of last season with Cremonese but while he'd like to fitter, he's feeling in good shape.

He continued: "Fitness-wise I feel very good. Of course, I came in later and these are my first games in three months because I was injured at the end of the season.

"My conditioning is good and the data shows that. But in terms of the speed of the game and my sharpness, I still feel I need to pick that up. These games are perfect for that."