Philippe Clement suffers fresh injury woe as Rangers star emerges as major doubt to be fit for start of next season
The Gers striker suffered a nasty injury after coming off at half-time during the Scottish Cup final defeat to Celtic
Rangers manager Philippe Clement has already addressed the club’s ongoing struggles with player-specific injuries and the need for a vigorous pre-season.
But the Belgian’s woes appear to have continued following the Scottish Cup final defeat to Celtic at Hampden Park on Saturday, with another Ibrox star now facing an anxious wait to see if he will be fit for the start of next season.
22-goal striker Cyriel Dessers had to be replaced at half-time against the Hoops after a sliding challenge made by Cameron Carter-Vickers midway through the first half left the Nigerian international writhing in agony inside the penalty area.
The 29-year-old left the national stadium wearing a protective boot on the right leg and will be sent for scans in the coming days to discover the full extent if the damage. However, the Light Blues fear Dessers has torn ankle ligaments and could spend most of the summer carrying out a rehabilitation programme.
Asked about his current situation post-match, Dessers commented: “I got injured in the first half, after around 25 minutes. It was the tackle from Carter-Vickers and it’s my ankle. I tried to go on because obviously it was the game of the year, the big final at the end of the season, one big push. But I had to come off. I’ll get it assessed in the next few days.”
Clement will be sweating over Dessers’ fitness and the potential severity of the problem, with the Gers boss currently applying the finishing touches to the club’s pre-season scheduled which will begin in around four weeks time.
It proved to be a weekend of double disappointment for the 22-capped frontman - who scored a penalty on his return to national team set up in March - after he was left out of Nigeria head coach Finidi George’s 23-man squad for next week’s World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Benin.
Addressing Rangers’ ongoing troubles relating to players sustaining injuries, Clement recently stated: “We need to be fast ready because you’re going to go into a pre-season that needs to be hard.
“The foundations of the house, physically of the dressing room are not good enough to play at high intensity, three games a week. That’s on of the reasons why there’s so many injuries, that’s clear. That’s an easy conclusion, so these players and players coming in need a really good preparation to get up to speed with our way of playing and to learn the principles.”