Philippe Clement to delay Lawrence Shankland transfer decision in Cyriel Dessers reprieve
Rangers are readying themselves for yet another season of battling arch-rivals Celtic to win the Scottish Premiership title.
Since Steven Gerrard departed Ibrox for Aston Villa, the Gers haven’t been able to find the same sort of consistent form that they showed under the Liverpool legend.
Since then, vast amounts of money have been spent on improving the squad but unfortunately, it has not yielded another league trophy.
Philippe Clement is yet to register a win against the Bhoys and if the 2024/25 season carries on with the same trend, he could be without a job come the end of the term.
Hence the need for sales [Rangers Review, 14 July] to allow players to arrive.
One player reportedly on the chopping block is Cyriel Dessers. The striker managed a total of 31 goal contributions across all competitions last season but was much-maligned for his profligacy and has been linked with the Ibrox exit door.
This resulted in rumours being thrown about with the 29-year-old even reportedly handing in a transfer request (Daily Record, 26 June).
Hence, why, the name of Lawrence Shankland has cropped up again in recent days.
Rangers should keep Cyriel Dessers for one more season
Shankland was top scorer in the Scottish Premiership last season and was heavily linked with a move to Ibrox in the January transfer window, a move that failed to come to fruition.
At the time Clement opted to stick with Dessers as his main striker but a move for Shankland is seemingly back on the radar.
However, as previously mentioned, some sales are needed at Ibrox to bring players in and given the reported £3million price tag (Daily Record, 24 July) there is clearly work to be done to make a deal happen.
Even if the club would like to see the back of Dessers, at the time of writing, there have been no concrete offers [Daily Record, 24 July] put on the table.
In this case, it feels as if it makes sense to keep the Nigeria international for at least one more season because Shankland’s contract expires in June 2025, meaning Clement might take the option to delay this transfer decision by 12 months.
Although this theory is a long shot, it’s one that could make a lot of sense in the long run, offering Dessers a reprieve might give him the confidence boost he requires for a more clinical 2024/25 campaign.
In other Rangers news, Philippe Clement already has a James Tavernier replacement at Ibrox as a transfer update emerges.
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