Rangers Move, What Super Eagles Defender Told Me- Dessers

Rangers Move, What Super Eagles Defender Told Me- Dessers

Ibraheem Lateef

Nigerian striker Cyriel Dessers on Thursday completed his move to Rangers on a four-year deal, for a fee believed to be worth around £5.4million for relegated Italian Serie A side Cremonese, reports BSNSports.com.ng.

Dessers has been capped four times for the Super Eagles and has also spent several years in the Belgian Pro-League with OH Leuven, Lokeren, and Genk, while also experiencing the top level of Dutch football with Utrecht, Heracles Almelo, and Feyenoord. 

While at Feyenoord in 2021/22, Dessers was named UEFA Europa Conference League top goalscorer, with 10 goals, earning himself a place in the competition’s team of the season.  

The 28-year-old told Rangers TV.

How do you feel to be sitting here as a Rangers player? 

Happy. It’s a big relief to finally be here. It's been some long days. Stressful day but I have a better feeling to be here finally. My first interest came already a long time ago, I think four years ago. So it's always been in my head a little bit and to finally be here now, that's nice. The first talks were around May. So it's nice to be in now. 

And did you speak to anyone to get any advice before making the move here? 

I spoke via email with the Nigerian national team Leon Balogun about the club. He was very positive about it, about the club, the coach, the people around the staff, and the city. So yeah, that for me was an affirmation to go through it. The history of the club, the fans, the stadium, everything here is massive. But next to that of course I look at what's here at this moment and I had really good talks with Mr Beale about joining. We discussed his plans and the idea that he wants. On the pitch, off the pitch. I thought that was that would be a really good fit for me and the team, so I'm happy to be here. 

The training around is really beautiful. And it’s inviting to work hard there and to be professional. That's what I was looking for as well. And if you come here and you arrive at the stadium... yeah, I don't think that needs an explanation. 

What qualities you can bring to the squad? 

I think I'm quite a modern striker. I'm quite complete. I can play the combination. I can make the runs deep, but I think my main threat is scoring goals, so I hope I can bring that to the team and help us to win some games and hopefully also win some trophies. 

And you do have a lot of experience playing in some of the top leagues in Europe too.  

I'm at the peak of my career. I have the experience now but I'm still physically very good and I feel very well. So I hope to put that together and then and to become important here. But yeah, of course, I got some experience over the last couple of years, also in Europe, last year in Italy, so I hope to bring that to the team and to help the guys and help the team win games. 

European competition must be exciting too. 

Yeah, of course. It would be a dream to play in the Champions League with Rangers. An excellent day. Of course, I saw the last couple of games Rangers played in Europe and if you see it here at the Ibrox with the stadium lights on in the evening, it's very special and I can't wait to witness it in person. 

Does it feel like an exciting time to join the club? 

Yeah, something is moving at this moment in Rangers and I'm happy to become a part of that. So let's hope this is the start of a beautiful season. Already in the past month, I got tons of messages from the fans, so I want to thank them first of all for the support and the love I got already even before I signed. I hope I can give something back with performances on the pitch and together with the. Team. If I meet them in the city, I will be happy to help them, and they can always ask me anything.  

I'm sure you can't wait to meet your teammates and gets back to playing. 

Yeah, of course. Especially after the last days when it's busy with making the deal. I'm looking forward to just being in the locker room, being on the pitch, and just enjoying football. 

The Nigerian will now link up with Beale's squad as the Englishman gets set to put his players through their paces at a German training camp over the next week.

Rangers have friendly fixtures with Newcastle United, Hamburg, Olympiakos, and Hoffenheim before the big kick-off.