Cyriel Dessers insists he never wanted to leave Ibrox – despite Rangers receiving TEN January offers for the in-form striker.
The Nigerian international started the transfer window playing second fiddle to Hamza Igamane. But by the end the pair had struck up a deadly double act, with Dessers contributing six goals and an assist in the space of just five games. But it could have been oh so different had Gers been prepared to cash in on the 30-year-old last month.
And they had plenty of opportunities to move Dessers on, with the former Feyenoord frontman’s agent Stijn Francis claiming there were 10 clubs in touch with bids to whisk him out of Glasgow. But with most of them involving initial loan periods, Rangers refused to do business. And that was just fine as far as Dessers was concerned.
He said: “If we look at the full picture because it’s not only at the end or what my agent said obviously, at the beginning of the month I was not playing a lot. As a striker that at that point was on, I don’t know, double numbers already, then obviously there’s a lot of interest.
“Teams that call my agent and ask, ‘He’s not playing, is there something possible?’ But I’ve been in touch, I spoke I think two or three times with Nils Koppen.
“We had very good conversations about the situation and yeah, I’m here now, three weeks later and I’m very happy to be here. I didn’t want to leave or anything, but I wanted to play.
“The last few weeks I’ve been getting into a better form again, the team as well, so yeah, then everything as well. Then obviously the situation changed at the beginning of January, so for me there are no big question marks.
“I think it’s normal if a striker scores that there will be interest, especially if you look at the situation I was in at the beginning of January, but by the end of January that changed already, so I think that makes the question less relevant.”
Gers are now 13 points adrift of Celtic in the race for Premiership gold. But Dessers hasn’t given up hope of silverware this season.
His side can book a Scottish Cup quarter-final slot if they overcome fifth-round opponents Queen’s Park on Sunday while they also have a Europa League last 16 adventure next month to come.
Dessers said: “We’re still competing in three competitions and I think the confidence that we get from the European games is huge with the cheering and getting to the top eight. So I think something special there is possible for the Europa League.
“We just need to keep going. You never know what happens and just keep looking at it game by game. As I said before, Sunday is a big opportunity to go to a trophy in a couple of games. The hunger is here and to do something special there as well.”