Rangers may no longer be on red alert after Cyriel Dessers AFCON development emerges
The Africa Cup of Nations has already caused Rangers a bit of a selection headache this season as Abdallah Sima has jetted off to the Ivory Coast to represent Senegal in this year’s tournament.
Sima could be set to miss several Rangers fixtures and has been absent for the Light Blues’ winter training camp as Philippe Clement has put his side through their paces ahead of the second half of the Scottish Premiership season.
However, the Gers have been on “red alert” for the last few days after Cyriel Dessers was placed on Nigeria’s standby list for the tournament should any of the Super Eagles’ forwards pick up an injury ahead of the tournament [The Herald, 9 January].
Fears would have risen around Ibrox following the news that Sadiq Umar had withdrawn from Nigeria’s squad through injury, with worries that Dessers would be set to follow Sima and miss the majority of the next month of club football.
However, those fears can now be eased after a report emerged from The Athletic (12 January) that Trabzonspor forward Paul Onuachu would replace Umar in Nigeria’s squad for the tournament ahead of Dessers.
Onuachu, who is on loan in Turkey from Championship side Southampton has been in impressive form so far this season, scoring eight goals in 14 Super Lig appearances, a far better return than Rangers’ number nine.
Dessers has been widely criticised for his poor performances so far this season and his recent displays have been incredibly disappointing as he has continuously spurned excellent goal-scoring chances in some of the Gers’ biggest games of the season.
Most supporters on the blue side of Glasgow are hopeful that Philippe Clement will sign a new forward option before the end of January to replace the Nigeria international at the top end of the pitch. But until that happens, they cannot afford to lose Dessers.
With Danilo and Kemar Roofe both sidelined and Sima away at the AFCON, Clement is relying on Dessers to lead his line and it would have been a disaster had the 28-year-old received a late call-up for this January’s tournament.
Hopefully, Rangers can now rest easy in the knowledge that their number nine will be available following the winter break unless Nigeria lose any more players to injury before the tournament gets underway.
In other Rangers news, clubs in La Liga, Serie B and Ligue 1 have made approaches for one Ibrox star this January