Over £9m wasted: How Rangers made an even worse signing than Dessers

Robbie is Football FanCast’s Assistant Editor, where he focuses on football analysis, transfer stories and feature pieces. His coverage spans several areas of the game, with particular expertise in Manchester United, Celtic, Rangers, the Premier League and Scottish football.

After graduating from the University of Exeter in 2020, Robbie began building a career in sports journalism, covering football across the Premier League, EFL, SPFL and European competitions. His previous work includes news and features for 90min, as well as an extended spell at Football Faithful covering the Premier League and Manchester United.

He joined Football FanCast through its academy scheme in 2022 and subsequently moved into the site’s Exclusives team before taking on the role of Assistant Editor in October 2023.

His work covers original reporting, transfer developments, tactical analysis and longer-form features, with an emphasis on providing context around the biggest stories and examining their significance for clubs, managers and players.

Regular coverage of Manchester United, Celtic and Rangers has allowed Robbie to build detailed knowledge of those clubs, while his wider work has given him experience across English and Scottish football. His connection with Wycombe Wanderers stretches back more than 20 years, during which time he has followed the club both home and away.

That combination of reporting experience and long-term involvement in football allows Robbie to provide detailed analysis, transfer coverage and features that look beyond the immediate headlines.

Rangers’ continuing search for a prolific striker

Since Alfredo Morelos’ influence at Ibrox began to fade, Rangers have gone through a succession of attacking options without establishing one undisputed first-choice striker.

The search has produced plenty of different profiles, but few have generated as much debate as Cyriel Dessers.

The Nigerian forward became one of the most talked-about players at Ibrox during his two-year spell, with his performances regularly dividing opinion among supporters.

Dessers did at least produce a respectable return in front of goal and could arguably be considered one of Rangers’ more productive recent striker recruits from a statistical perspective.

However, his time in Glasgow was also defined by his tendency to squander opportunities.

A series of costly misses and frustrating moments meant that, despite his goalscoring contribution, Dessers struggled to win over a large section of the Rangers support and is unlikely to be remembered among the club’s most popular forwards.

Dessers was certainly a divisive presence during his time at Ibrox, but his record raises another question: was he actually the poorest centre-forward Rangers have recruited in recent years?

How Dessers stacks up against Rangers’ recent strikers

Judging purely by his numbers, it would be difficult to describe Dessers’ Rangers career as an outright failure.

The forward scored 51 times across 116 appearances in all competitions, while his Premiership return was 16 goals in 2023/24 followed by 18 the following campaign.

Those figures compare reasonably well with several of the other forwards Rangers have brought through the door in recent seasons.

However, the underlying numbers help explain why Dessers remained such a controversial player among the Rangers support.

During his two full Premiership campaigns, he was credited with missing 47 big chances, highlighting a recurring problem in front of goal.

His performances against Celtic were another major source of frustration.

Dessers faced Celtic 11 times during his Rangers career, more often than he has played against any other opponent. Yet he managed only two goals across those Old Firm appearances, with both coming in post-split fixtures in May 2024 and May 2025.

Rangers will now hope their current group of forwards can offer greater consistency and production. At the same time, the figures show that Dessers was far from being the only questionable striker investment made by the club in recent years.

The £9m Rangers mistake that arguably eclipsed Dessers

Rangers’ 2023 summer recruitment was a particularly important period for the club.

Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos both departed as free agents, marking another significant change to the squad that had won the Scottish Premiership under Steven Gerrard.

Morelos’ departure was especially significant from an attacking perspective. Although his final period in Glasgow had been underwhelming, replacing a striker who had produced so many goals was always going to be difficult.

Michael Beale and the Rangers recruitment team responded by bringing in three forwards during the same window: Dessers, Danilo and Sam Lammers.

Of that trio, Dessers ultimately provided the most substantial return in terms of goals, while Lammers’ Rangers career was brief and failed to develop as hoped before he moved on.

Danilo, however, represents the more expensive problem when considering both his transfer fee and subsequent contribution.

The Brazilian remains under contract at Rangers but is currently away from the club on loan with Botafogo, having moved there in July.

His inability to secure a permanent departure after several seasons at Ibrox underlines how difficult the transfer has become for Rangers. The club originally spent around £6m to sign him from Feyenoord.

Injuries have undeniably played a major role in restricting Danilo’s involvement. Nevertheless, even when available, his scoring figures have not matched the expectations attached to his transfer.

He has scored just 16 goals in 76 appearances for Rangers.

By comparison, Kevin Kelsy has already opened his Rangers account and made an immediate impression during his derby debut, while Youssef Chermiti has also made an impact in this fixture, having scored four times.

Danilo arrived with a respectable scoring record in the Netherlands. Before joining Rangers, he had recorded nine goals in 20 appearances for Ajax, 14 in 48 for Feyenoord and 17 in 34 for FC Twente.

Those numbers were not spectacular, but they suggested he could contribute regularly in front of goal.

His move to Scotland instead became a frustrating period for both player and club.

Danilo subsequently returned to the Netherlands on loan with NEC Nijmegen in January, before moving to Botafogo later in the year.

There is now a possibility that the Brazilian could finally leave Rangers permanently in 2027 if the conditions attached to his Botafogo loan are met.

Danilo’s transfer has become an expensive Rangers problem

The financial side of the deal makes Danilo’s limited contribution even more significant.

Reports have placed his Rangers salary at around £26,000 per week, equivalent to approximately £1.3m annually.

Excluding periods spent away from the club on loan, his wages are estimated to have cost Rangers roughly £3m to date.

When that figure is added to the original £6m transfer fee, Rangers have committed around £9m to a player who has scored only 16 goals in more than 70 appearances.

That makes the Danilo deal a particularly costly piece of recruitment in hindsight.

Dessers may have frustrated Rangers supporters with his finishing and his record in major fixtures, but his 51 goals mean his overall contribution was considerably greater.

For Rangers, the hope will be that their current attacking options can avoid repeating the expensive mistakes of previous recruitment windows and provide a more reliable return in the years ahead.