Rangers’ £4.5m man a weak-link as pundit hails duo Clement should have signed

Rangers have been told they could live to regret not signing Lawrence Shankland or Bojan Miovski with Cyriel Dessers maybe too inconsistent to be relied upon in a Scottish Premiership title race.

After a sudden burst of form either side of Christmas, last week’s 2-1 win over Aberdeen was a return to the mean. Cyriel Dessers, clinical in previous outings, was back to snatching at chances, wasteful and wayward as Rangers made very hard work of Neil Warnock’s deep-lying Dons.Despite the undoubted improvements in his game since Philippe Clement replaced Mick Beale in the Ibrox dugout, Dessers still has just eight goals in 21 league games. Lawrence Shankland and Aberdeen’s own Bojan Miovski, in contrast, have 17 and 13 respectively, while breaking the 20-goal barrier across all competitions. And, speaking to Clyde Super Scoreboard, former Scotland international Charlie Mulgrew wonders if Rangers’ inability to bring a new striker to the blue side of Glasgow could see trophy adorned with green-and-white ribbons again come May.

Rangers still relying on Cyriel Dessers

“Dessers looks to me as if he needs three chances before he can score. Three or four chances,” says Mulgrew. “If they hit the balls over the top in behind for Dessers, I wouldn’t fancy him to score.“And I think they missed a trick there by not signing Lawrence Shankland or Bojan Miovski.”Miovski, valued at around £8 million according to Sky Sports, was always likely to be beyond Rangers’ reach in the winter window. Shankland, the division’s Golden Boot leader, would have cost a similarly hefty fee, with CEO Andrew McKinlay indicating that any Premiership club looking to take the prolific goal-poacher away from Hearts would have to part with a national record fee of over £4.5 million.

Philippe Clement’s side can go top tonight

Rangers host Ross County at Ibrox tonight, Dessers likely to start again with Danilo still unavailable. a win over a team sitting second-from-bottom will see Clement’s side draw level with Old Firm rivals Celtic at the top.Rangers can even move into pole position if they beat Ross County by more than two clear goals.

Philippe Clement might not have gave anything away regarding his out of contract stars, but when it comes to John Lundstram it’s pretty clear on what side the Rangers manager comes down on. The 29-year-old midfielder is one of the Belgian’s most trusted lieutenants and in Clement’s much-discussed squad game, he is still one of the first names on the team sheet.Consigned to the bench for the weekend’s win over Ayr United, it is only the second time Lundstram has failed to start a football match under Philippe Clement.The other – the clash against Motherwell on Christmas Eve – was because the midfielder had a knock on his ankle.

John Lundstram in line for Rangers contract

At a time when the Rangers manager is discussing the depth of his squad openly, John Lundstram is an Ibrox constant.A big game player who never hides and who, under the Belgian, has regained the sort of form which has Gers fans branding him the “best on Earth” in 2022.Couple this with the fact that ex-Premier League midfielder Lundstram has openly admitted that he wants a new deal at Ibrox and suddenly, a new contract moves into no-brainer territory.The old argument about Lundstram not justifying his high wages doesn’t exactly resonate so loudly when the midfielder is playing out of his skin.

One final Ibrox hurdle

The challenge then for John Lundstram, and presumably why Rangers are waiting on a new contract, is for the midfielder to prove he has the consistency to merit the kind of wages attached to a nee deal.Rangers have seen this John Lundstram before; that athletic, progressive, deep lying midfielder who breaks up play and pivots defence into attack.There’s a tiger-like approach when Lunny is at his best and perhaps before Rangers agree terms on a bumper new contract the club are waiting to see if the midfielder can sustain the form.A player transformed, and trusted, under Philippe Clement, we’ve no doubt John Lundstram can do just that and put pen to paper on a new Rangers contract before long.

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