Cyriel Dessers speaks out as Rangers deadline day exit set to be confirmed
Rangers are set to sell Cyriel Dessers on deadline day, with the striker closing in on a move to Greek side Panathinaikos.
Dessers came off the bench in Rangers’ 0-0 draw with Celtic on Sunday, and he has now travelled to Athens to complete his transfer away from Ibrox less than a day later.
Rangers are set to sign Youssef Chermiti from Everton, as one of two new strikers as Bojan Miovski joined from Girona, helping replace Hamza Igamane.
The deal to take Dessers to Panathinaikos has not yet been finalised, but the attacker has now explained the reasoning behind his Rangers exit after arriving in the Greek capital.
Cyriel Dessers explains Panathinaikos motivation
Dessers, unlike Igamane, remained professional and featured for Rangers at the start of this season despite speculation over his future throughout the summer.
This saw Dessers come off the bench in the Champions League against Panathinaikos in the early qualifying rounds, as Rangers recorded a 3-1 aggregate win.
Speaking ahead of his transfer via the Rangers Review, Dessers admitted that the atmosphere in the away game convinced him the move to Athens the right one.
“We played with Rangers against Panathinaikos and I saw the atmosphere with my own eyes,” Dessers stated.
| Cyriel Dessers | Rangers |
| Appearances | 115 |
| Goals | 52 |
| Assists | 17 |
“Panathinaikos are a very good team. Of course, Rangers went through in the end, but I was impressed with them.
“I also saw the history and it is a great club.”
Dessers had a strong goal record at Rangers despite heavy criticism directed his way, and he has now revealed that he hopes to keep scoring in Greece.
“In the games against Panathinaikos, I noticed that they created a lot of chances and they get the ball into the box a lot,” he added.
“My game is getting into the box and scoring as many goals as possible.
“Many strikers will tell you that their only target is to score a lot of goals. But for me, the most important thing is to get victories and win titles because that’s all that’s left at the end of your career.
“To win games, you need goals and I hope I can help with that.”
Rangers may miss Cyriel Dessers
The striker was far from popular as Rangers’ first-choice striker, with constant missed chances a real problem, but Dessers also finished as the top scorer in the Scottish Premiership last season.
29 goals in 55 games across all competitions was far from a bad return for a player so harshly criticised, and Rangers will be lucky if any of their current options can exceed this return.
While Miovski has plenty of scoring experience in Scotland, doubts remain over whether Chermiti can become a prolific goalscorer at Rangers, and should he fail to settle, losing a proven scorer in Dessers may end up backfiring.
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