Summary Summer sign Cyriel Dessers has underperformed since arriving at Rangers. A £8.5m alternative was staring Michael Beale and co in the face for a while during the transfer window. The player scored 19 goals in league action throughout last season.

Glasgow Rangers head into the international having endured a tough start to the 2023/24 campaign.

Michael Beale has led the Gers to just four wins from nine matches so far this term, while also failing to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League following a 7-3 aggregate demolition by PSV Eindhoven.

The pressure was ramped up after that defeat last week heading into the first Old Firm game of the season and a win would have allowed the Light Blues to leapfrog Celtic and secure the first blow of the campaign.

It wasn’t to be in what can only be described as a lacklustre performance, not helped by poor refereeing but there wasn’t a single standout performer across the 90 minutes.

How did Rangers perform vs Celtic?

The Parkhead outfit had failed to score in four hours prior to arriving at Ibrox for the match on Sunday and having drawn with St Johnstone along with being knocked out of the League Cup by Kilmarnock the week before, Brendan Rodgers was perhaps under some undue pressure already.

This should have given Beale a huge confidence boost, yet despite having two goals ruled out in the first half, the Gers simply couldn’t create any meaningful scoring chances.

Rabbi Matondo was unleashed from the start and his pace did cause trouble to the Celtic defence, yet he failed to make a key pass or have a shot on target throughout his 64 minutes on the pitch. Old Firm debutant Dujon Sterling was also underwhelming at left back and failed to add any attacking impetus to the starting XI as he replaced Borna Barisic.

The former Chelsea youth gem succeeded with zero of his three dribble attempts and lost possession seven times during the game before he was replaced by Ridvan Yilmaz.

Before the crunch tie, it remained to be seen who would be deployed to lead the line against an inexperienced defence, and it was Cyriel Dessers who once again got the nod, leaving £6m man Danilo on the bench yet again.

Did Cyriel Dessers play well vs Celtic?

The Nigeria international has endured a fairly uninspired start to his Rangers career thus far, scoring just twice and registering three assists for the club across eight matches.

One of those goals was a penalty against Greenock Morton, while grabbing an assist in the same game and in four Premiership matches, the striker has yet to record a goal contribution, with his performance against Celtic suggesting Beale may need to make a change for their next match.

He missed a big chance during the tie while having a grand total of zero shots against Celtic while drifting offside a frustrating three times across the 76 minutes that he was on the pitch.

The 28-year-old also failed to demonstrate his physicality as he lost 75% of his ground duels along with losing possession 12 times, and it’s clear that Beale needs to tinker with his tactics during the international break in order to get the best out of the former Feyenoord player.

Indeed, the Gers may well be ruing not signing someone who could have offered a greater threat in front of goal during the summer transfer window. One such option was Anastasios Douvikas.

How many goals has Anastasios Douvikas scored?

According to Greek outlet Nova Sports in June (via The Daily Record), the Ibrox side were gearing up to launch a bid of around £7m for the striker as they were looking to bolster their attacking options following the departure of Alfredo Morelos.

Celtic were also showing interest in the player and there is no doubt he was one of the better strikers that Beale was keeping tabs on throughout the window.

Last season, he finished as joint top scorer in the Eredivisie with 19 goals, a tally that would have also seen him finish as the highest scorer in the Rangers side, indicating that he could have vastly improved Beale’s frontline while being a better option than Dessers too.

Indeed, Douvikas, when compared to positional peers across the eight most similar leagues to the Dutch top flight, ranked in the top 8% for non-penalty goals per 90 (0.55), the top 19% for progressive carries (1.69) and successful take-ons (1.1) per 90 while also ranking in the top 8% for tackles per 90 (1.14), demonstrating his abilities across a range of metrics.

In comparison, Dessers failed to rank in the top 25% for non-penalty goals per 90 (0.43), while ranking outside the top 40% for progressive carries (1.22) and successful take-ons (0.79) per 90 along with finishing among the top 50% for tackles per 90 (0.5) when compared with positional peers in Europe's top five leagues.

Of course, Dessers was playing in Serie A, which is a trickier league to score in compared to the Eredivisie, yet it is evident that the sheer volume of goals Douvikas scored demonstrates he would have been a much better option for Beale this term.

The 24-year-old netted 22 goals across all competitions for FC Utrecht while Dessers scored only seven goals for Italian side Cremonese, further evidence that Douvikas should have been a higher transfer priority for the Gers.

Where is Anastasios Douvikas playing now?

They failed to lure him to Glasgow and following weeks of speculation, the striker eventually moved to La Liga and joined Spanish side Celta Vigo for a fee in the region of €10m (£8.5m), signing a five-year deal in the process.

Lauded as “sharp” by journalist Josh Bunting back in 2021, it appears as though Douvikas has really hit his stride over the previous 12 months and secured a richly deserved move to Spain.

He will certainly be one that got away for Beale, particularly if Dessers fails to improve in the subsequent matches following the break.

The last few weeks should have been the perfect time for the 43-year-old to get his new signings settled in and performing well while claiming a place in the Champions League.

It hasn’t worked out so far and much is down to just how poor the new signings have been, notably Dessers.

Douvikas may have cost more, yet his goal tally in recent seasons suggests he would have been a major upgrade on the 28-year-old.