Club now pushing to sign Rangers star in the next 48 hours

There is no need to shy away from the fact that Glasgow Rangers need to improve in a lot of areas if they want to claim to be the best club in Scotland once again.

They have not won the Scottish Premiership title for four years and ended the 2024/25 campaign without a single trophy added to the cabinet.

Russell Martin has arrived at Ibrox this summer with the ambition of bringing the Light Blues back to the top, but there also needs to be improvements made off the pitch when it comes to recruitment.

Kevin Thelwell and the recruitment team have to ensure that the former Scotland international has the tools at his disposal to put a successful team on the pitch, whilst also maximising any potential sales.

As you can see in the graphic above, the Gers do not have a particularly rich history of selling talent, with no sales worth more than £20m in their history to date.

However, they have still done well to maximise the money that they have got from sales in recent seasons, with Antonio Colak’s exit from the club standing out as one great example of that.

Rangers hit the jackpot with Antonio Colak

There was a point in time when it looked like the Croatian centre-forward was on course to go down as one of the greatest Rangers strikers of the modern era, after his lightning-fast start to life at Ibrox.

He joined the Light Blues from Greek side PAOK in the summer of 2022 and caught the eye with his early performances in the Scottish Premiership as Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s first-choice number nine.

As you can see in the table above, Colak scored ten goals and provided two assists in his first ten games for the club in the top-flight, which shows that he was on course to be an incredibly prolific number nine for the club.

However, a change in management, with Michael Beale coming in, essentially put an end to his time at Ibrox, as he only went on to score four goals in his last 14 outings in the league after that.

Colak was then sold to Parma for a reported fee of £2.5m in the summer of 2023, and the Gers hit the jackpot with that fee when you consider what he has gone on to achieve.

The Croatian forward has only scored four goals in 48 matches for Parma and Spezia combined since leaving Scotland, and is now valued

at just £850k by Transfermarkt.

This shows that the Scottish giants struck gold with his sale because he failed to replicate his early form at Ibrox elsewhere and is now worth significantly less than the £2.5m they got for him.

European club pushing to sign Rangers star

The Light Blues could be about to repeat the masterclass they played with Colak amid interest from a European side in one of their current centre-forward options.

According to The Scottish Sun, AEK Athens are pushing to sign Cyriel Dessers from the Scottish giants within the next 48 hours, from Sunday night.

The report claims that the Greek team want to accelerate a deal for the Nigeria international in the next couple of days because they want him to join them on their pre-season tour of the Netherlands this week.

It adds that they have offered a fee of £4m for the experienced marksman, but Rangers are holding out for a fee of £5m, and that haggling over the fee is the last step in a potential deal.

Dessers has already agreed personal terms with AEK Athens, which is why it is now down to the clubs to thrash out a fee, and there could be progress in the coming hours.

Why Dessers could be Colak 2.0

The Nigerian striker could follow in Colak’s footsteps by leaving Rangers and failing to replicate the success that he had at Ibrox in front of goal.

Given how dominant Rangers and Celtic are in the Premiership, playing for one of the big two in Glasgow is a great opportunity for strikers because they know that they will get plenty of chances to shine.

In two seasons at Ibrox, Dessers missed a staggering 48 ‘big chances’ in the Scottish top-flight for the Light Blues, which shows that he has had plenty of opportunities to find the back of the net in the division.

A haul of 34 league goals in two seasons is a respectable return for the striker in isolation, but the 48 ‘big chances’ that he missed suggest that his finishing has not been good enough and that the forward should have even more goals to his name.

As you can see in the table above, Dessers also struggled in front of goal in the Europa League, underperforming his xG and missing ten ‘big chances’.

These statistics suggest that the Nigerian striker, who former Aberdeen chief Keith Wyness described as “infuriating” and “invisible” at times, will not continue to score goals at an impressive rate if he is in a team that does not create enough chances for him, because of his below-par finishing.

AEK Athens only scored 48 league goals this season, compared to the 80 Rangers scored in the Premiership, which suggests that Dessers would be part of an inferior attacking unit and would not get as many chances to score.

This, therefore, means that the striker’s value could decrease in the years to come, as a result of a lower goal return, and the Light Blues could look back on a £4-5m deal as a great success, as they can with Colak’s £2.5m exit, as Dessers may not be able to replicate his goalscoring form for the Gers in Greece due to his underwhelming finishing.

Related

Dream Dessers replacement: £6.5m star now keen on signing for Rangers

This Rangers target has said that he would “suit” a move to Ibrox this summer.

It is now down to the club to get the best possible deal for the Nigeria international in these negotiations with AEK Athens in the coming hours.