Glasgow Rangers head coach Russell Martin was hit with a potential blow on Tuesday night when Cyriel Dessers had to go off with an injury.
The Nigeria international was forced off the pitch in the second leg of the Champions League qualifying clash with Viktoria Plzen after twisting his knee in an awkward way on the turf.
After the game, the manager told BBC Sport: “He’s in a brace now. We have to wait and see over the next number of days.”
The former Southampton tactician has since revealed that the forward will not be available this weekend and is still touch-and-go for the first leg against Club Brugge on Tuesday.
This means that the Scottish Premiership giants will have to be wary of the possibility that Dessers may not be available for the game against the Belgian side.
The injury blow to the striker may have opened the club’s eyes to what the situation is in the number nine position when the experienced ace is unavailable.
Why Rangers may need to sign another striker
The Gers are in an interesting position with their centre-forward options at this moment in time. Hamza Igamane has been linked with an exit, with Everton said to be keen, and can play on the left, but Danilo has not done enough to suggest he is the man to lead the line.
This means that Rangers may need to dip back into the market to sign another number nine option, especially if they have serious ambitions about winning trophies this season, to ensure that they have enough quality when the Nigeria international is not fit.
Irrespective of what you think of Dessers as a finisher or his all-round game as a centre-forward, the former Serie A striker scores goals, and scores goals at a fairly impressive rate.
The 30-year-old marksman has been at Ibrox for just over two years, since his move from Cremonese, and has scored 34 goals in the Premiership for the Light Blues to date, per Sofascore, which is far from a horrendous return for a striker.
Appearances
35
35
Goals
16
18
Big chances missed
27
20
Assists
4
2
Ground duel success rate
29%
34%
Aerial duel success rate
40%
31%
As you can see in the table above, his finishing has been far from perfect, with 47 ‘big chances’ missed in that time, but the Gers will miss the goals that he has the ability to provide if the forward is ever out for longer periods.
This is why Martin should want to bring in another number nine to replace Dessers, and the club do reportedly have a star on their radar at the moment.
Rangers have striker on their shortlist
According to the Daily Record, Maccabi Tel Aviv centre-forward Dor Turgeman remains a player who is on Rangers’ shortlist of transfer targets this summer.
The report claims that the Israel international is a target for the Premiership title-contenders, but that there has not been any concrete movement on a move for the striker in recent weeks.
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It adds that New England Revolution have had an offer of £2.6m turned down by Maccabi Tel Aviv, with talks ongoing between the two sides, and that Rangers may have to move quickly to beat them to his services before the end of the window.
Earlier this summer, it was revealed that Turgeman’s club value him at a fee of around £5m, and it remains to be seen whether or not the Gers are prepared to pay that price.
It will be interesting to see if this injury scare for Dessers causes Rangers to accelerate their interest in the 21-year-old centre-forward in the coming days.
Why Rangers should sign Dor Turgeman
The Light Blues should consider making a move to sign the Maccabi Tel Aviv marksman as a dream short or long-term replacement for the Nigerian striker.
This is because he is an incredibly promising young striker who has the potential to make a big impact immediately at Ibrox, whilst also having the age profile to be an excellent signing for the future.
This means that it would not just be a panic-buy signing in reaction to the Dessers injury, because he is also a 21-year-old striker with the potential to be the first-choice striker for Rangers for many more years to come.
The £5m-rated star, who was described as “lethal” in the penalty area by writer and analyst Kai Watson, enjoyed a fairly promising season with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2024/25 campaign, which suggests that he could make an instant impact in Scotland.
Appearances
31
Starts
22
Goals
15
Big chances created
4
Minutes per goal
132
Big chances created
10
Assists
3
As you can see in the table above, the 21-year-old talent only started 22 of his 31 appearances, yet was still able to notch 15 goals and three assists in that time.
Turgeman’s return of 15 goals and only four ‘big chances’ missed shows that he has the quality to be an effective and efficient finisher in front of goal, and the same cannot be said of Dessers when looking at his statistics earlier.
However, it remains to be seen how his performances will translate over to the Premiership, as he has yet to prove himself outside of his home country.
At the age of 21, though, Turgeman would arrive as a very young centre-forward at Ibrox, which means that Martin could work with the youngster to develop him into a top player for the team over the years to come.
This is why the £5m-rated star could be a dream replacement for Dessers as a striker with the potential to provide quality as a scorer and a creator of goals, whilst also being young enough to compete with the Nigeria international and learn from him when he is back from his injury.