Former Glasgow Rangers head coach Michael Beale chose to restructure his roster at Ibrox last summer by allowing a handful of players to go to make space for new additions.

The likes of Glen Kamara, Scott Arfield, Antonio Colak, Ryan Kent, Allan McGregor, and Alfredo Morelos all left the Scottish giants prior of the 2023/24 season, either on free transfers or for payments.

This enabled the Gers to come in to acquire Leon Balogun, Sam Lammers, Jack Butland, Dujon Sterling, Danilo, Cyriel Dessers, Kieran Dowell, and Jose Cifuentes on permanent deals, along with Abdallah Sima on a season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion.

Beale had mixed success with those acquisitions and was stripped of his responsibilities at the start of October, before being replaced by Belgian coach Philippe Clement.

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Dessers, in particular, has had his troubles at Ibrox this season as the centre-forward has scored goals without being very impressive on the field for the Light Blues.

The seasoned striker has, regrettably, been the club’s only acknowledged number nine option for significant stretches of the season, owing to injuries to Kemar Roofe and Danilo, and Clement could have binned the Nigerian forward if he had Robbie Ure available.

Why Robbie Ure quit Rangers

His contract with Rangers ended at the conclusion of the 2022/23 season and the attacker chose to let it run out before completing a transfer to Anderlecht in Belgium.

After he made the move to the Pro League, Ure said that playing senior football and having a clear road to the first-team if he goes well was a crucial reason in his choice.

In February 2023, Football Insider reported that the Light Blues offered the 18-year-old centre-forward a contract extension on less money than the one he was on at the time.

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The report claimed that the B team star also turned down a contract offer from the Scottish giants during the January transfer window, when the sum the club sought for his talents drove off any possible buyers.

They stated that the Scottish striker wanted to ‘leave’ after being given less money to remain beyond the summer of 2023, which led to his final departure to Belgium.

This shows that Rangers did not do everything they might have done to persuade the talented young marksman to remain at Ibrox, as they wanted him to accept a pay-cut to stay.

Instead, if the money were available, Beale may have sought to hold him down to a long-term deal on higher terms to assure his future in Glasgow, given that his remarkable goalscoring record at junior level revealed that Ure had huge potential to be a success.

Robbie Ure’s goalscoring record

The Scotland U19 international came up through the development ranks at Ibrox and produced two goals in four UEFA development League games during the 2021/22 season, in his debut at Youth League level.

He followed it up with a great 2022/23 season as the excellent centre-forward grabbed the attention with his B team performances and earned a first-team debut.

His senior bow came against Queen of the South in August 2022 when Giovanni van Bronckhorst chose him as the starting number nine in the League Cup encounter. Ure scored in a 3-1 round of 16 triumph for the Light Blues, which signaled that the attacker was ready to move up and earn more first-team chances.

Unfortunately, the Dutch head coach was replaced by Beale at the end of November, after van Bronckhorst had already presented Ure with a Scottish Premiership debut against St. Mirren, and the English coach granted him one minute of first-team action throughout the remainder of the season.

His lack of engagement in the first-team under the ex-Liverpool youth boss meant that he built up 41 games for the academy teams, in which time Ure scored 20 goals and supplied 10 assists.

Since his arrival to Anderlecht, the 20-year-old ace has played regular senior football in the second tier of Belgian football with RSCA Futures (Anderlecht B). He has plundered five goals and two assists in 12 league matches for the club thus far.

Overall, the former Gers striker has scored 28 goals and assisted 12 in 62 matches during his career, at junior and senior level for Rangers and Anderlecht combined, which is a return of one goal contribution per 1.55 games on average.

This indicates that the gifted teenager excels at having a major effect in the final third as a striker, by both scoring and creating goals for his side.

Cyriel Dessers’ mixed success for Rangers this season

The 29-year-old striker was brought in from Italian team Cremonese to improve Beale’s options at the top end of the field in the summer of 2023, after Ure had departed the club.

Dessers has scored 16 goals and supplied seven assists in 43 appearances in all competitions for the Gers so far this season, which is a return of a goal or an assist per 1.87 outings on average – less than Ure has achieved in his career to date.

The Nigeria international’s respectable record in front of goal does not tell the entire picture, however, as 12 of his goals have come from an xG (Expected Goals) of 15.1 in the Premiership.

Rangers’ most wasteful finishers
23/24 Premiership xG Goals xG difference
Cyriel Dessers 15.1 12 -3.1
Sam Lammers 4.71 2 -2.71
Danilo 6.68 4 -2.68
Connor Goldson 2.06 0 -2.06
John Souttar 2.4 1 -1.04
Stats via WhoScored

He has wasted a mind-boggling 20 ‘great chances’ in only 19 starts, and 26 appearances in all, in the Scottish top-flight this season, and these figures reveal that the striker has been exceedingly wasteful.

His aggressiveness has also left a lot to be desired, as the Rangers forward has lost 69% of his duels in the Premiership, and 74% of his battles across six Europa League games.

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This reveals that Dessers has been overwhelmed by rival players in physical challenges, to go along with his poor finishing in front of goal for the Scottish giants.

Had Beale not bungled Ure, who was described as a “standout” by writer Joshua Barrie, by failing to give him a decent contract or more than one minute of first-team play, Clement might have binned Dessers by having a superb young centre-forward to draw upon.

The Scottish whiz, who is currently prospering in the second tier in Belgium, may have been an ideal choice for the manager to push through into the first-team, considering his superior record of goals and assists per game than the ex-Serie A striker.

Instead, injuries to Danilo and Roofe have left the 29-year-old dud as the sole natural striker for most of the season thus far, although Fabio Silva can also play there if required.

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