Cyriel Dessers has revealed the significant impact sports psychologist Daan Ruiter has had on his career, particularly in helping him navigate the pressures of playing for Rangers and avoiding feeling down.
Despite facing intense scrutiny over missed opportunities since arriving from Cremonese under former manager Michael Beale during summer 2023, Dessers has scored 29 times from 67 appearances in Light Blue, solidifying his role as Philippe Clement's preferred striker at Ibrox.
However, the 29-year-old acknowledges that his journey to the Scottish Premiership giants hasn’t always been smooth.
He recently opened up about his experiences with a prominent sports psychologist and counsellor, which began earlier in his career and has been vital to his development as well as his ongoing mental resilience.
Dessers reflected on a challenging period during his loan at Feyenoord from Genk during the 2021/22 season, describing it as a "frustrating situation" that ultimately became a pivotal moment in his footballing journey.
He credited his sessions with Ruiter for reigniting his scoring touch, stating that since their first meeting, he has "never really stopped" finding the back of the net.
“I have been working with my own psychologist since Feyenoord and I honestly found that a relief," the Rangers talisman told Nieuwsblad.
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"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.
“In my first season at Feyenoord, I started working with Daan Ruiter. I had just had a very frustrating season at KRC Genk. I felt that I had the qualities to play for a club like Genk, but I ran into Paul Onuachu, who broke one record after another.
"A very frustrating situation, because you keep doing your very best, while you know that the chance that you will get many minutes is small. And at the same time you still try to be the best possible teammate.
“The following season I was loaned to Feyenoord with the idea that I would finally start playing. But when I arrived, the striker who was already there, Bryan Linssen, started the season phenomenally. Literally every ball that Bryan touched, flew in.
"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 didn’t 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.
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"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.
"I still talk to Daan every month. In my most difficult period, that even happened weekly or twice a week."
