Cyriel Dessers has told Rangers fans he has “a lot of unfinished business” at Ibrox as he addressed speculation about his future.
The 30-year-old lost his place as number one striker this season to Danilo, who is currently injured, and Hamza Igamane and was recently quoted in Dutch publication VI as saying he would need to have talks with the Govan club if more minutes were not forthcoming.
After coming off the bench to score a stunning equaliser in the 2-1 Europa League defeat at Manchester United last Thursday, Dessers started Sunday’s game against Dundee United at Tannadice along with Igamane.
Sam Dalby opened the scoring for the home side but Mohamed Diomande levelled before the break and Robin Proper put the Ibrox side ahead before Dessers added a late third with a terrific strike, his 18th goal of the season, before Diomande picked up a controversial red card.
Asked if he has had discussions with the Ibrox club, the Nigeria international, linked with Ligue 1 side St Etienne, Serie A duo Cagliari and Empoli and LaLiga outfit Leganes, said: “No talks at all. I don’t mind that.
“I try to focus on the football, the things that are happening on the pitch.
“Those are the things that I can control. And like Sunday, I’m just happy to be out there with the guys and fight for the points and be important. That’s what I want.
“There’s a lot of unfinished business at Rangers for me.
“That’s also why I kept pushing in the last weeks, in the gym, in training, in the minutes that you get, that’s because of that.
“I feel like I’m in a good place. I’ve been feeling that for a couple of weeks.
“I’ve been working hard on and off the pitch and then if you get the moments like Sunday to show it, and then you need to show it.
“For a striker, rhythm is so important, but I was happy to be on the pitch to play together with Hamza.
“And I think we have a very good connection, and hopefully that can grow as well.”
Dessers has often borne the brunt of Gers fans’ frustration since he signed from Cremonese in July 2023.
There were a smattering of boos around Ibrox when he came off the bench against Aberdeen earlier in the month before scoring the third in a 3-0 win.
He said: “Yeah, that’s not easy. That’s quite hard to take.
“But on the other hand, I’ve had a lot of positive interaction as well with fans around the stadium, in the city, and I try to take that to heart.
“And when I get out there, I just want to fight with my team-mates who I see every day, who respect me, who know the effort I put in, in the training ground and then to win like this. That just makes me very happy.
“I know at this club, things can change very fast as well.
“For example, the stick that a player like Tav (skipper James Tavernier) gets sometimes, he’s a Hall of Fame player, he has scored more than 100 goals for this club, played 400 games, all of this.
“And then I’m thinking, maybe there will always be something to talk about.
“But I just try to enjoy the beautiful moments at this club and I’m lucky that I have plenty of these and those are way more important to me than the few negative moments.”
