Cyriel Dessers has got “better and better” for Rangers this season and should have been named in the PFA Team of the Year, according to Mark Atkinson.
The Scotsman editor told BBC Sport Scotland (23 April) that he knew he would be laughed at for making the arguement for the Gers forward to get in over Motherwell’s Theo Bair, alongside star strikers Lawrence Shankland and Bojan Miovski of Hearts and Aberdeen respectively, but praised his mental strength and scoring record this term.
He suggested that the fact the Ibrox man, who has divided opinion this season, should even be in with a shout is because big names such as Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi have “underperformed massively”.
Atkinson said: “I’m going to throw the ultimate wildcard in there, I’m going to hear some laughs here. I wouldn’t have Theo Bair in there. If I was to go for another striker I’d go for Cyriel Dessers.
“His goals are good, I know he misses a lot of chances, but he’s got better and better as the season’s gone on. He’s mentally got a lot stronger and I think his numbers speak for themselves.
“I still think he’s a proficient forward. I’d have [Abdallah] Sima ahead of him if he was fit all the time but he’s not. If you were to compared those two players, Bair and Dessers, Bair had a good second half to the season but in a 4-3-3 with three forwards Dessers would be the next one behind Miovski and Shankland.
“What does that say about the league this season? It probably says guys like Kyogo have underperformed massively.”
