The January transfer window officially opens for business on Wednesday and it could be a busy month of business for the underperforming Glasgow Rangers.
Philippe Clement’s side have won one of their last five matches in all competitions, losing the League Cup final to Celtic at Hampden Park in that time, and recently lost 2-1 to St Mirren.
The Light Blues are now 14 points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership table and look set to miss out on the title for a fourth straight season.
Clement and Nils Koppen could, now, look to make some changes to the underperforming squad in January in an attempt to enjoy an improved second half of the campaign, and Cyriel Dessers moving on from Ibrox is one objective that they should have on their to-do-list.
Why Cyriel Dessers should be sold
Earlier this month, it was reported that Ligue 1 side Saint-Etienne have an interest in signing the Nigeria international from the Gers in the winter window.
Rangers must take advantage of that and ruthlessly cash in on the centre-forward, who has not proven to be a reliable option for Clement at the top end of the pitch this season.
Appearances
6
17
Goals
1
6
Big chances missed
7
8
Pass accuracy
66%
73%
Duel success rate
33%
34%
As you can see in the table above, Dessers has been incredibly wasteful in front of goal throughout the campaign, with 15 ‘big chances’ missed across the Premiership and the Europa League.
The 30-year-old dud, who has also been a lightweight in duels, should now be moved on when the January transfer window opens up, to free space in the squad for a new forward to come in.
The player who should replace Cyriel Dessers
Clement, however, may not need to dip into the market to find a replacement for Dessers because he could save the club a fortune by, simply, unleashing B team starlet Zak Lovelace.
The 18-year-old whiz, who finally returned to action in September after 320 days out with a hamstring injury, recently showcased his quality for the youth side by scoring the winner in the Glasgow Cup against Celtic, as shown below.
Lovelace has been a terrific player for the academy since his initial move from Millwall in the summer of 2022 at the age of 16, at which point he was described as an “exciting” young talent by former sporting director Ross Wilson.
The teenage dynamo enjoyed a sensational debut campaign with the youth sides, scoring 18 goals and providing ten assists in 35 appearances across all competitions.
His form was impressive enough to earn him two first-team appearances at the age of 17 in the second half of that term, before playing twice in the Premiership at the start of the 2023/24 campaign before his long-term hamstring injury.
Lovelace’s goal against Celtic recently shows that he is now back on track and could be ready to step back into the first-team set-up to offer Clement another option at the top end of the pitch.
The 18-year-old starlet’s form for the academy suggests that there is a forward there with the potential to provide quality as both a scorer and a creator of goals, which could make him an exciting replacement for Dessers – saving the club from splashing out millions on a replacement in the process.
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ByRoss KilvingtonDec 27, 2024