Utrecht loanee Sam Lammers left Rangers down and out for the safe haven of the Eredivisie in January.
In a familiar story for the technically talented 27-year-old forward, Lammers struggled with the weight of expectation at Rangers following a £3m summer move.
The situation had echoes of the striker’s doomed stint in Italy with Atalanta, who paid £8m for Sam Lammers’ services in 2020 after the ex-PSV star exploded onto the scene on loan with Heerenveen.
Loan moves to the lower leagues of Italy and to Germany failed to herald results as the Dutchman toiled in Serie A.
But back in the bosom of his Dutch motherland, via a disastrous six months at Rangers, suddenly Lammers has found his confidence.
And his shooting boots.
An impressive return of 11 Eredivisie goals since January – more goals than the striker has scored in the last three-and-a-half years collectively – has understandably turned heads.
Now, in a potentially shock twist, Sam Lammers himself has suggested that he will hold talks with Rangers come the summer over his future at the club.
Lammers to hold Rangers talks
Speaking to De Telegraaf, Sam Lammers has been talking about his future this week.
It comes after Utrecht’s technical director Jordy Zuidam admitted that the Eredivisie side are desperate to keep Lammers around but that any prospective deal could fall apart over wages.
Those comments really put the situation of Lammers up in the air and now the striker has confirmed he’ll be holding talks with Rangers over his future come the end of the season.
The striker is contracted to the Gers until 2027 and has confirmed that he has not spoken to the Ibrox side since heading to Utrecht six months ago.
“I am under contract with them and I will be the first to talk to them,” said Lammers. “I haven’t really had any contact with Rangers in the last six months. We will have conversations after this season.
“I don’t want to worry about that right now. The only thing I can say about it is that FC Utrecht has indicated that it wants to continue with me longer.
“I don’t know what happens next.
“That will all only happen after these matches, because I don’t want to do anything that could cause me to lose focus.
“The most important games of the season are coming and I hope to be able to score goals in them too.”
The striker also claims he has ambitions to secure European football with Utrecht: “I’m happy that I could be important to the team. It’s been a good six months for me, but I’m not done yet.
“We now also want to achieve European football. It’s been a bit less for a few weeks. There have been a number of matches in which we played less than we can play.
“But I have the feeling that we have the right energy and flow again.”
‘Bring him back’ to Ibrox?
Whilst there’s nothing here to suggest that a return to Rangers is on the cards, the form of Sam Lammers at Utrecht is surely a talking point within the corridors of power at Ibrox.
The striker was signed by Michael Beale and left under Philippe Clement, the frustration and anger of the Gers support clearly having a big impact on the Dutch forward.
But with the Rangers budget set to be stretched to capacity this summer, the club face a real dilemma when it comes to Sam Lammers.
On one hand, the striker could be sold to help fund the imminent rebuild at Ibrox whilst on the other, the Gers might be losing out on a goalscoring hitman who is about to enter his prime.
Ex-Rangers captain Craig Moore was speaking about the situation this week and insists Lammers is worth another shot at Ibrox.
“Bring him back and have a look at him in pre-season,” said Moore.
“Sometimes it doesn’t work out for a player immediately. I don’t think it worked out for Ally McCoist in the earlier period. Super, everyone loves him and he was incredible.
“Of course business is business and it might be something that Rangers snap up. It didn’t work out for him at Rangers, he’s had a great spell at Utrecht.
“But you can also have a look at him at pre-season. I don’t think he played his proper position. Was a 10 at Rangers. He’s been playing as an out-and-out-striker at Utrecht.”
