“Maybe he’s fitter”- Ex-Rangers star gives possible reason for Dessers’ recent goalscoring form

Dessers struggled to perform in his first few months at Rangers, but he has picked form since Phillipe Clement took over

Former Scotland star Derek Ferguson has stated that Cyriel Dessers’ recent improvement is due to the training regime of Phillipe Clement, Soccernet.ng reports.

Dessers joined Rangers in the summer after a failed stint at Italian club Cremonese that saw him register seven goals and two assists in 29 appearances. The 29-year-old hitman joined the Gers for €5million, and there were high expectations because of his previous exploits with Genk and Feyenoord.

However, Dessers struggled in his first few games under former Rangers coach Michael Beale. Eventually, Beale got sacked in October and Phillipe Clement took the over at Glasgow.

Since the Belgian tactician took over, Rangers have improved rapidly, winning nine and drawing just three games. Under his tutelage, Dessers has registered six goals in his last ten appearances for the club.

Former Rangers midfielder Fegurson has been impressed with the Super Eagles striker so far, and he believes the reason for this improvement is Clement’s training regime.

“Do you know something? Maybe Dessers is becoming a wee bit fitter. You heard Clement talking about how he was disappointed in the fitness levels and what he expects, so maybe a five, 10 per cent fitter Dessers is going to show a bit more,” Fegurson told Open Goal, per Ibrox News.

“Obviously, he scored again [against St. Johnstone] last night. I saw a wee clip of the goal. Maybe that wee bit of sharpness, fitness whatever you want to call it has made a bit of a difference.

Dessers has been out of the Super Eagles squad for some months, but if he continues with his run in Rangers’ last four games before the break, he could just steal a spot in Nigeria’s 2023 AFCON team.