Cyril Dessers, the Nigerian International, is reportedly on the move to seek a new challenge in the Scottish league.
According to Belgian journalist Sven Claus, the 28-year-old Super Eagles forward will leave his current club Cremonese and sign a four-year deal worth €5 million with Rangers, with his medical set for 3 or 4 July.
Cyriel Dessers (28) will leave Cremonese and sign a 4-year contract at Glasgow Rangers. Medicals booked today and tomorrow. Fee: €5m. #RangersFC pic.twitter.com/767ahU1Yee
— Sven Claes (@svenclaes) July 3, 2023
This move became imminent for the former Belgian Cup winner following Cremonese's relegation from the Serie A last season.
Dessers signed with Cremonese on 10 August 2022, and scored six goals in 26 appearances for the now Serie B team, a campaign to forget for the Belgian-born Nigerian player.
At 28, Dessers will next be playing for Rangers, which becomes the ninth club the former NAC Breda hitman will feature for, just like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who retired with the same number of clubs under his belt.
Cyril Dessers started his career at OH Leuven reserves during the 2013/14 season as a 19-year-old. He stood out at that level, netting over 20 goals.
With the senior OH Leuven team in danger of relegation and several first-team strikers out of shape, injured or suspended, he got his first minutes in the first team in a 3-2 away loss against Mons.
Dessers' performances since then have seen him sign for a host of other clubs, going on to win the Belgian Cup with Genk in 2021. He made his debut for Nigeria's Super Eagles in 2020 after switching international allegiance in 2019 and has four caps to his name.
Clubs Cyril Dessers has featured for in the past
We've established before how Dessers, on signing for Rangers, will be featuring for the ninth club since he began his career.
Here are the list of the eight clubs he has played for:
- OH Leuven (2023 to 2014)
- Lokeren (2014 to 2016)
- NAC Breda (2016 to 2017)
- FC Utrecht (2017 to 2019)
- Heracles Almelo (2019 to 2020)
- Genk (2020 to 2022
- Feyenoord – Loan spell from Genk (2021/2022 season)
- Cremonese (2022 to 2023)
Nigerian players that have played for Rangers
With Dessers signing as a Rangers player, the number of Nigerians to have played for the Scottish club just increased by one. Let's see the Nigerians who have featured for the club in time past:
- Leon Balogun (2020 to 2022)
- Dapo Mebude (2019 to 2021)
- Calvin Bassey (2020 to 2022)
- Malcolm Ebiowei (2020 to 2021)
- Joe Aribo (2019 to 2022)
Frequently Asked Questions about Cyril Dessers
How old is Cyril Dessers?
Born on 8 December 1994, Dessers is 28 years old.
Which club has Dessers scored the most goals of his career at?
He scored the most goals of his career yet while at NAC Breda, where he netted 29 times in 40 appearances in the 2016/17 season.
Has Dessers ever won a trophy?
Yes. He won the Belgian Cup with Genk in the 2020/21 campaign.
What individual awards has Cyril Dessers won?
Dessers has achieved quite a few individual awards, which include:
- Eredivisie top scorer of 2019/20
- Eredivisie Player of the Month for November, 2019
- UEFA Europa Conference League top scorer of 2021/22 season
- UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season 2021/22
Cyril Dessers is joint-top scorer in the #UECL this season with 𝑬𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 goals.
He's averaged a goal every 63 minutes 😳 pic.twitter.com/J3dao5btqu
— Soar Super Eagles (@SSE_NGA) April 15, 2022
Was Cyril Dessers born in Nigeria?
No. He was born in Tongeren, Belgium
Why did Cyril Dessers decide to play for Nigeria?
Granted, his father is Belgian but he decided to represent Nigeria to honour his mother, who's a Nigerian, in 2019. He achieved this dream in December 2020 when he got his first call-up to the Super Eagles.
This article was most recently revised and updated 1 year ago
