Cyriel Dessers hasn’t had it easy since signing for Rangers over a year ago.
He still doesn’t, despite being Philippe Clement’s main man up front and continuing to find the net for the Gers. The 29-year-old is a polarising figure with some feeling his shortcomings outweigh the positives he brings.
Others admire his work ethic and determination to keep on going through the criticism, and also argue that his goals record is not be to be sniffed at.
The Nigerian will likely continue to split opinion no matter what he does for the rest of his Rangers career.
Rangers star Dessers works with a sports psychologist
It is no real surprise to learn that Dessers works with a sports psychologist. He is clearly a guy that strives to be the best he can be and will look to make the most of any opportunity he can to make marginal gains in performance.
And it is not only at Ibrox he has had tough moments, so having someone to speak to will certainly have helped throughout his career.
Speaking to Nieuwsblad about his sit-downs with Daan Ruiter, Dessers said: “I have been working with my own psychologist since Feyenoord and I honestly found that a relief.
“Of course, club psychologists say that you can tell them anything, but however you look at it: those people are paid by the club and therefore also work in the interest of the club. I felt that I never fully showed the back of my tongue.
“Again I felt that I had the qualities to play, but again I came up against a striker who was in top form, to the extent that I became discouraged. I did get my chances regularly and then came the period in which I scored so often in the 92nd minute. First I scored the winning goal in the derby against Sparta Rotterdam and a few days later also in Europe against Union Berlin.
“Scoring normally gives you the best feeling there is, especially in the last minute. You can’t describe that feeling. But those two times I felt nothing. No emotion at all. Flat, that’s perhaps the best way to describe how I felt then. At that moment I knew: something’s not right here, something’s not right in my head.
“I spoke to Daan for two hours and told him everything that had been going through my head during the previous two seasons. Just the fact that I could tell that to someone who could look at the situation objectively, meant a lot to me. You can also talk to family and friends, but they will always take your side. That’s different.
“That conversation took a huge burden off my shoulders. I don’t think I should have waited much longer. I think I was really close to a kind of burnout at that point. That’s when I started scoring and I never really stopped after that and my career just kept going up. I think I owe that to that conversation to a large extent.
Dessers still works with Daan Ruiter after ‘difficult’ Rangers spell
The Light Blues striker still has regular sessions with Ruiter and admitted that during the toughest times of his Gers career, those conversations became more regular.
He added: “I still talk to Daan every month. In my most difficult period, that even happened weekly or twice a week.”
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