Cyriel Dessers hit with brutal Rangers verdict as Kevin van Veen debate spawns weighty pundit jab

Derek Ferguson believes that Rangers signing Kevin van Veen is a no-brainer - as James McFadden rates him of a higher standard than Cyriel Dessers.

The Nigerian international has had to deal with plenty of criticism since moving to Scotland from Cremonese. A reported transfer fee of £4.5m was paid to the Italian side and the 28-year-old so far has scored six goals from 22 appearances. Michael Beale could have taken a different route though as part of his summer recruitment drive, with Motherwell hero van Veen claiming that Rangers had taken an interest in him but he didn't fit the age profile.

He ended up moving to Groningen but has found life back in the Netherlands tough after an incredible 29 goals for the Steelmen last season. Stuart Kettlewell has admitted financially it's a difficult deal to do in terms of bringing the 32-year-old back to Lanarkshire but he'd likely fall well in Rangers' budget, and Fir Park legend McFadden had a barb waiting for Dessers with his Dutchman praise. He told Open Goal: "From what I’ve seen, he’s better than Dessers.”

Fellow pundit Derek Ferguson doesn't understand why he wasn't signed in the summer and reckons van Veen has the self-confidence to thrive in blue. Ferguson said: “I’d take him in a minute. I don’t understand why they never went in for him at the start of the season, but again that was Michael Beale. I think he’s good enough, he thinks he’s good enough and that’s the important thing.

"He’ll think, I can get into a Rangers side if they brought me back and I can score goals. It’s not just about last season, did you see the season before where he’d never scored that amount of goals. His general play, his link-up play everything else about him. It was a different class. That’s