Super Eagles striker Cyril Dessers will enjoy new training skills at his Scottish outfit after Rangers named former Sheffield Wednesday coach Danny Rohl as their new manager yesterday to replace the sacked Russell Martin. The German 36-year-old signing a two-and-a-half-year contract.
Rohl left Championship side Wednesday by mutual consent in July, less than two weeks before the start of the season, having been in charge since October, 2023 and guiding them to a 12th -place finish last season.
That was the German’s first senior managerial role having previously served as assistant manager at RB Leipzig, Southampton, Bayern Munich and with the German national team.
Martin was dismissed on October 5 after a disappointing start to the season, where one win in seven league games left Rangers well off the pace in the Scottish Premiership standings.
Rangers drew 2-2 at home to Dundee United on Saturday and are sixth in the standings, 13 points adrift of leaders Hearts.
“I know it has been a difficult start to the season, but there is still so much to play for in four competitions,” Rohl said in a club statement.
“My staff and I will give it everything to reward the supporters and the club.”
Rohl’s first game in charge is an away trip to face Norwegian side SK Brann in the Europa League on Thursday. Rangers lost their opening two games in the competition to Genk and Sturm Graz under Martin.
However, the clubs have not yet agreed on a transfer fee. Rangers are hoping to make a profit on the £4.5 million they spent to bring Dessers to Ibrox in 2023.
AEK Athens manager Marko Nikolic has waved-off reports linking Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers with a move to the Greek club.
The Super Eagles forward had reportedly agreed personal terms with the 13-time Greek Super League champions, fuelling speculation about his potential switch. However, Nikolic insists there is no intention to sign a new striker.
“No, because in attack we are well covered with Zini, Pierrot, Martial, and even Eliasson,” the Serbian tactician told Daily Record.
“Our focus is on strengthening the left-back position, but there is still time. Full-backs are always tricky to find on the market. It’s not a major issue, and we are also working on reinforcing another area of the team.”
Dessers, 30, finished last season as the top scorer in the Scottish Premiership, netting 18 goals.
Rangers are set to sell Cyriel Dessers to AEK in what will be the first major piece of transfer business at Ibrox this summer.
Dessers has cut a frustrating figure in Glasgow during his stint with the Gers, offering a strong goal return but equally showing a very erratic side to his game in front of goal.
His transfer has stalled because of a holdup over the fee, but whether he heads to Greece or not, there appears little doubt he is destined for the Ibrox exit.
According to Football Transfers, potential options for Rangers include Luton Town striker and Scotland international Jacob Brown, who is the most obvious option on the list to replace Dessers at Ibrox.
The 27-year-old, whose mother was born in Glasgow, has played his whole professional career in England but has eight caps for Scotland.
He is a player who offers Premier League experience but a lack of goals is a concern.
Brown is not as strong as Dessers, according to SciSports, and with Rangers seeking to upgrade this area of the field, they are unlikely to make a move.
Another ambitious target is Freiburg attacker Junior Adamu, who at 24 has a good deal more to come. SciSports rate him as a significantly better player than Dessers and up there with Celtic’s best attacking options. In short: he is the type of player Rangers need to find a way to attract.
Regular football as a starter could be one way of doing this. Rangers can offer him that.
Last season, the 24-year-old only scored two league goals but the Nigeria-born player is capable of so much more and, if harnessed properly, could be a smart addition to the Glasgow giants
Other being mentioned include Igor Matanovic ( Eintracht Frankfurt), Julian Carranza (Feyenoord); Ross Stewart (Southampton) and George Hirst (Ipswich).
Glasgow Rangers’ striker Cyriel Dessers has expressed his excitement following his returning to the Super Eagles after a long period of interregnum.
The 30-year-old centre forward was first called up to the Super Eagles by the then head coach Gernot Rohr and made his debut in a friendly match that ended in a 1–1 draw against Tunisia in October 2020.
But he has been on the fringe with the Super Eagles with just six international caps before being called up by new coach Eric Sekou Chelle for this week’s London Unity Cup.
“First and foremost, I’m happy to be back here and to be called up again with the boys and staff,” the free-scoring Dessers who notched 18 goals in 35 Scottish League matches for rangers in the 2024/2025 season, said. “ When you look in the mirror and see the Nigerian badge, and then you get that call — you don’t think twice. You just go.
“I already have a few beautiful moments with the Super Eagles. I hope to add a big tournament to that. It would be a dream to go to a major competition with Nigeria and hopefully win something.”
Ahead of last night clash against Ghana in the Unity Cup, Dessers stated: “It’s an exciting tournament here in London, and of course, there are a lot of Nigerians here.
“The first game is against one of our biggest rivals. People may say it’s just a friendly or a tournament game, but we don’t see it that way. We want to win and make our people proud,” he added.
Nigeria forward, Cyriel Dessers, was proud to take his place among some of Rangers’ 21st-century greats with his dramatic late winner in the 4-3 victory over Dundee on Saturday.
The 30-year-old Nigeria striker has been regularly criticised for his profligacy since joining from Cremonese in July, 2023 and was guilty of more missed chances on Tayside as goals from striker Simon Murray and skipper Joe Shaughnessy had the home side cruising at 2-0.
Shaughnessy scored an own goal just before the break but Scott Tiffoney made it 3-1 in the 62nd minute before goals from Gers skipper James Tavernier and substitute Tom Lawrence levelled the match.
Dessers then pounced in the third minute of added time for his 23rd goal of the season and 45th in 100 games for the Ibrox club, which ranks behind only Kris Boyd (68), Alfredo Morelos (57) and Shota Arveladze (48) for goals in their first 100 Gers appearances this century.
Dessers said: “When you say it like that, that makes me very proud.
“I had difficult times at this club, especially when I came in, but when you’re amongst among these names I think you’re doing something right.
“I know the people in the building see how hard I work in the gym, on the pitch, in training, and this is the reward so when you when you tell me this, that’s a very nice thing to hear from you. These are big names in the history of this club.
“I know it has been two hard years for everybody with a lot of ups and downs.
“We have had some unbelievable moments in Europe and winning a League Cup, but we didn’t get the big prize last season which we all fight for. So got some stick.
“I think that’s normal when you don’t win the league at Rangers, but on a personal level to hear that (record) fills me with pride.”
He added: “Obviously I want more, I think the fans want more, the gaffer wants more so I’m working hard for that every day.
“We have still got some important games left this season, so hopefully I can I can add a few more.”
It was the fifth time in seven games Rangers had gone 2-0 down and Dessers insists that needs to change for next season.
Under interim boss Barry Ferguson, Rangers are 13 points behind William Hill Premiership leaders Celtic with seven games remaining and the title is set to remain at Parkhead.
The Gers forward said: “The ability to stay in the game and come back, we’re very good at that, but it would be nice to give the first punch to them and then have a little bit more comfortable game.
“But like on Saturday, then you have to dig deep, keep going, keep believing until the last minute. But that’s something you need to learn if you want to compete at the highest level.
“You cannot have the games like this every week because it will cost you at the end of the season. You need to have more comfortable games and that’s a big step for us to make towards next season.”
Rangers interim boss, Barry Ferguson has thumbed up the performance of Super Eagles striker, Cyriel Dessers after his match winning heroics against Dundee United last weekend.
Dessers, 30, rose to the occasion with a stoppage time winner at Dundee and Ferguson told the club’s website that he is satisfied with the work rate of the Nigerian whom he said is always eager to improve.
“One thing about the big man, he has been a joy to work with, and he is a brilliant worker. Brilliant listener. He wants to improve even at his age,” Ferguson stated.
“He puts himself in brilliant positions, he can get frustrated and start feeling sorry for himself, but he keeps going.
“He got his reward with the winner.
“Even before I took the job I always said the big guy would keep going. If he got criticism from fans, the media, the big man just rolls his sleeves up.
“I didn’t think it would affect him and it never affected him. He kept going. If you have that type of character then you get your rewards in the end.”
Dessers who hit his 100th game for the Gers in the game with 45 goals overall bagged his 23rd goal in all competitions this season.
He opened the scoring after 19 minutes. He got his brace in the 58th minute to make it 3-0 for Rangers. Fellow Nigeria star, Leon Balogun, also started for Rangers.
Cyriel Dessers has continued his brilliant scoring form with Rangers as they ran out 2-0 winners over St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup.
Rangers found it hard to convert in the first half as they created a host of chances, but Cyriel Dessers’ introduction at half time made all the difference.
In the 58th minute, Dessers timed his run perfectly and was played in on goal by Rabbi Matondo, and the Nigerian striker made no mistake in firing past goalkeeper Joshua Rae.
He turned provider late into the game, as he also found Ross McCausland to kill off the game for ‘The Gers’.
Speaking on his recent form, the 29-year-old striker said; “I know if I do my job, work hard for the team well and do what the manager asks me, then I know the goals will follow and that’s what’s happening now. “
“I had to be patient (during the VAR check), but it was a tough waiting moment, but I was happy.
After scoring Rangers late equalizer against homers Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round Nigerian striker Cyriel Dessers hopes he can help change the momentum for the Rangers squad in Europe lucrative club tournament. Netting a dying minute goal in the 1-1 draw with Dynamo Kyiv over the week has given Rangers the confidence to wrap things up in the second leg at home. The UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie sits firmly in the balance ahead of this weekend’s second-leg at Hampden thanks to the Nigerian’s injury time strike.
Speaking to RangersTV, Dessers said: “I hope that this goal is a very good statement, and this could change the momentum, not only in this tie but hopefully for us also for the coming weeks.
“We have been working so hard and maybe you don’t see the results immediately on the pitch but there has been a lot of work and moments like this can turn this around.
“Hopefully, things start falling our way and I think you saw as well after the whistle how Dynamo went in. They were not happy and let’s hope that the late goal changed the momentum in this tie too.
“It was a good feeling, everybody could see Dynamo are a very good team tactically and technically, so we had to work hard to keep the spaces close and I am happy to score a goal at the end and take a good result home.”
Dessers was happy to be able to celebrate in front of the Rangers supporters in Poland Tuesday evening and said the mentality of the squad was key to keep pushing for the equaliser.
He continued: “We were talking about it in the hotel as well, everywhere we go, you always have these fans if it is in Birmingham, Berlin, Edinburgh, or here in Poland, they are always there with a lot of numbers and we are happy that we could give them something back at the end and it is nice to celebrate the goal in front of your own fans again.
“The mentality to keep going until the end is really important, we did it a few times last season as well when we conceded quite early but we bounced back and I think that says a lot about the mentality in this team, we are not giving up, we keep going even if it is against a good team and then you get rewarded at the end.”
BALOGUN’S THUMB UP
Meanwhile countryman and teammate Leon Balogun has given Dessers thumbed up for living up to pre-match billing.
“I think he’s (Dessers) scored quite an amount of goals for us already, and the season just started last weekend, so I don’t really know how many goals he’s going to score but he’s going to score but he has started well with the goal in Kyiv. I looked at him last season and I think he’s scored a significant amount of goals. So yeah, I am [confident] he will score more.”
Balogun (36) who also stared in the Champions League match is excited that that even at this stage in his career he’s enjoying the playing in the Champions League.
“It is massive. We spoke about finances and all these things before. Obviously, they play a big part for various reasons, but for me that’s the biggest motivation. I’ve never played in the Champions League, I’ve played in the qualifiers before, for Rangers as well. It didn’t work out. So, like you said, at this stage of my career, that would be one of my biggest achievements, and it would fill me with immense pride, so that’s my personal motivation. I’m sure that every single player who came out here has their own individual reasons for wanting to go through into the group stages.
“I think everybody’s very determined to have a good performance this year. It’s obviously been a quick turnaround, but it’s a big occasion. You want to step up and rise to the occasion, so there’s a lot of motivation in the team and we’re hungry. I think if you want to play in the Champions League, there’s no greater motivation than club football. So I think there should be enough for each and every individual in the squad. Dynamo Kiev are a good footballing side. Obviously they had a very strong performance in the last qualification round, winning 9-2 on aggregate. So there’s quality there, but we’ve got quality too and that we showed them in the first leg. We are going back to work harder so as to sustain the momentum. We can and try to play our football and get success from that.
MORE THUMBS UP
Coach Philippe Clement says he is satisfied with how his team are reacting to challenges after a late Dessers equaliser.
“If you look at the stats, we had six balls on target, and they had three.
“Cyriel was unlucky before his goal, he had several good finishes but the goalkeeper had several good saves. He is a goalkeeper from the national team and Dynamo are a team with a lot of qualities.
“I think in the phase we are in with the rebuild and what the players are showing it is again a step forward that I wanted, and it is a really important result.
“I hope the fans get behind these players so hard and next week, they can make so much noise that the roof comes off Hampden.
“Dynamo are a really good team, they have been playing together for four or five years so they have a lot of automatism so in that way I am really satisfied with how my team are reacting already in this short time together to do a lot of things right.
“Of course, we can do several things better still and that is what we will work on now this coming week towards this next game, but we have also a league game in between. I don’t know if Kyiv will have one.
“They had a free weekend before this game and you saw at the end, they physically struggled so I am curious if they are going to play on the weekend or not, probably not but we will do our job in our way.”
Clement highlighted the importance of his full squad, with second-half substitutes coming on to make a difference in Lublin.
On what his message was going in 1-0 down at the break, he said: “It was really important that in moments we did really good pressing, but in moments we didn’t so we had to make that better.
“It was much better in the second-half, we were more calm on the ball and kept more of an overview. We lost a few balls too easily in the first-half and Dynamo would get a transition and they are lethal in that with a lot of pace and a lot of quality.
“We had to find the right spaces, so we showed images about all of that and that we need to keep on pushing. With fresh players coming in they can make the difference when other players are getting tired for the other team and that is the mentality that we need to recreate.
“We had it there last season, but we need to recreate with all the squad together that it is a job together. Sometimes one is starting, sometimes another one is starting but they all do the job, and they go hard.”
