Rangers may be looking to move some players on to free up finances before the end of the transfer window, but manager Philippe Clement says they couldn’t afford to let Cyriel Dessers go after the club booted out a bid from Atlanta United.
Reports this week suggested that the MLS outfit had lodged a £4.6m bid for the Nigerian striker, but that the forward didn’t want to leave Ibrox, and had knocked back the move.
But Clement confirmed that Rangers themselves hadn’t considered allowing Dessers to leave for the sort of money that was on offer, because they would be unable to replace him for such a sum.
"We talk with the board about if there are bid comes for a player, if we can let him go or not,” Clement said.
"We can only let players go if for that amount you can find better. Or you can find two for example, one in the same position and one in another position. Otherwise you work backwards. That's not the idea.
“So, clearly for him there hasn't been a bid that was enough to let him go. And he's also somebody who loves to stay. He loves to play for Rangers. He loves the shirt and he wants to die for the shirt.
“That's what he's showing also in the good moments like today, but also in the difficult moments. He was one of the guys who was fighting hard for the club and for the team.
“So, I think he deserves a lot of praise. The stick he got in the beginning when he came here…maybe it was in moments right that he was not good enough and he knew that he was missing things. But what he's been doing now the last couple of months, not only the last couple of weeks, but also the end of last season, he's just a really good striker and a really good team player.
“That's important for the rest of the team also.”
That being said, Clement could not guarantee that Dessers – or anyone else – would still be at the club on the other side of the transfer window, with every player having their price.
"I'm not sure about anything,” he said.
“Like I said, if somebody comes with a bid that's big enough, then almost everybody can go. It's like that. That's the situation. Because you need to use that to do other things.
“If you can replace them by at least the same quality, then you can do other things. So I don't know. I will see at the end of the week.
“I don't expect that it will happen. I don't expect it, but I don't want to be naive also. But then we need to have another solution. that's better, of course.
“So the shorter you go to the 1st of September, the less chance there is because you need to find also a good replacement."
