Right then, let's have a wee gab about Cyriel Dessers, a lad who was born on the 8th of December, 1994 in Belgium. Now reaching the ripe old age of 30, he's ended up in the dear green place, albeit not on our side of the city. He's primarily clutching the forward position for our dear neighbours, the Rangers, as a striker. Standing tall at 6ft (or about 1.85m if you're fond of your metric) and weighing in at around 12st 8lb (or 80kg, again for those metrically-inclined), Dessers does his business in the iconic number 9 jersey.
Let's take a little stroll down memory lane, shall we? In chilly January 2014, our young Belgian prodigy decided to take his talents to the Oud-Heverlee Leuven in Belgium's Pro League. In debut season 2013 - 2014, the lad got his moment in the sun, making a grand total of... one first team appearance in league matches.
Come July of the same year, Dessers packed up his bags and was off for a new adventure at KSC Lokeren, also in Belgium, where he made 15 and 10 first team appearances in league matches in the following two seasons respectively.
In 2016, he trotted off from Belgium to the Eredivisie in the Netherlands to play for NAC Breda. Here, he notched up 36 appearances and bagged 22 goals in league matches.
Little did we know, Dessers had a taste for the life in the Netherlands, transferring to FC Utrecht for a fee of around £300k. He spent two seasons with Utrecht, making a combined total of 40 appearances and 12 goals.
July 2019 saw Dessers make a move to Heracles Almelo in the Eredivisie, where he scored 15 goals in one season. The following year, a lofty price of about £3.6m was paid by Genk in Belgian Pro League to secure his services. At Genk, he seemed to have hot years and cold years, with eight goals in a total of 62 appearances over three seasons.
Throw in a short spell at Feyenoord, back in the Netherlands again on loan (27 appearances, nine goals), a brief return to Genk and then a change of scenery to Cremonese in the Serie A in Italy for £5.9m (26 appearances, six goals). Tiring, isn't it?
Finally, the boy found his way to Scotland, playing for our "friends" across the city, for a charge of £4.5m. The lad's been quite busy over his two seasons with Rangers, making a chunky 70 appearances and whacking in a not-too-shabby 34 goals. This season, he's just started off with a meagre three appearances. And there you have it - a potted history of Cyriel Dessers, goalscorer, globe-trotter and, I suppose, footballer.
In other competitions, he's had his moment in the spotlight during the Scottish Cup 2024 - 2025 season with Rangers, bagging three goals over two matches; participated in the Europa League 2023 - 2024 for Rangers, scoring once over seven matches; and pottered about in the Champions League Qualifiers 2025 - 2026 for Rangers, scoring once over four matches.
