Rangers add Chermiti & Cornelius as Dessers is sold

As they sold Cyriel Dessers to Panathinaikos, Rangers have purchased 21-year-old Youssef Chermiti from Everton for an undisclosed fee in the hope that “he can develop into a top striker here.”

The Scottish Premiership side also signed 27-year-old Canada winger Derek Cornelius from Marseille on a loan with a purchase option at the end of the season, as well as signing winger Oscar Cortes from Sporting Gijon in Spain’s second tier.

Chermiti has agreed to an Ibrox contract for four years.

But he has since found the net only twice, with just 24 starts for the Premier League club.

However, Russell Martin, the club’s head coach, claimed that Russell had “a great potential” for the young striker.

Bojan Miovski, a former Aberdeen star, joins Rangers as Charmiti’s second acquisition in the past four days, making him the second striker.

Dessers, who has 115 appearances and scores 52 goals, departs for the Greek Superleague for an undisclosed fee.

The 30-year-old Belgian-born Nigeria international signed for Rangers from Cremonese for four years in July 2023.

However, he has only found the net once in his seven starts this season under Martin.

Cortes was also unrelated to Martin’s plans despite the fact that only this summer was the deadline to purchase the 21-year-old from Lens for a reported £4.5 million.

However, Martin thinks that Chermiti, a striker for Portugal Under-21, has “a lot of the qualities we were looking for.”

He said, “We believe this is the right environment for him to continue his development because he already has valuable experience at a high level.”

“We’re looking forward to working with him in the coming years to help him reach his full potential here at Rangers.”

Chermiti joined Everton from the Premier League club when Rangers sporting director Kevin Thelwell took over.

Although he was not included in manager David Moyes’ plans, he still had two years on his contract.

However, Thelwell asserted that his character is well-known from his time at Everton and that his professionalism, upbeat demeanor, and desire to improve are always admirable.

We think Rangers is the right place for him to take that next step and that he can develop into a top striker here. What he can bring to the club in the upcoming years will be exciting to us all.

I immediately became aware of my desire to join the club when I spoke with Kevin and Russell, Chermiti continued.

Cornelius, who has played 35 times for Canada, claimed that Martin and Thelwell wanted to “add someone with leadership qualities” to their defense.

The centre-back signed a four-year contract with Swedish champions Malmo and was immediately sold to Marseille.

He appeared for the Ligue 1 runners-up last season in 23 appearances, 17 of which were starts, and has started two games in this role.