Utrecht loanee Sam Lammers insists that he’s not coming back to Rangers.
The Dutch striker, 27, had a difficult first six months in Glasgow following a £3m move from Serie A side Atalanta last summer.
It followed on from a disastrous spell in Italy truth be told and news broke this week that the entire thing had put Lammers off a return to Rangers this summer.
It comes after a quite stunning six months back home in the Netherlands, were Sam Lammers has broken a 40 year consecutive scoring record and netted an impressive 11 Eredivisie goals.
Rangers hold all the aces when it comes to the hitman – who they hope to recoup a profit on – but the latest coming out of Utrecht will cast some doubt on what happens next.
Utrecht line up striker signing
According to Dutch publication Voetbal International, Utrecht are lining up an Eredivisie striker signing already this summer.
Although it is not Sam Lammers.
The report claims that Utrecht have already lined up to sign RKC Waalwijk striker David Min following his 10 top tier strikes in the Netherlands this season.
But before you go joining any dots with regards Sam Lammers, the move is reportedly to cover the imminent exit of fellow Utrecht striker Isac Lidberg.
The report claims that after a disappointing first season following a move from Go Ahead Eagles, Swedish striker Lidberg is already on the move this summer.
Voetbal International are also clear that the move for David Min will have no impact on Utrecht’s transfer pursuit of Sam Lammers.
As revealed by the club’s technical director Jordy Zuidam a few weeks ago, Utrecht are interested in Lammers but the player’s wage demands are a sizeable stumbling block.
If the pursuit for Lammers fails, then Utrecht will sign another striker on top of David Min to replace the Rangers loanee.
Rangers hope for quick Lammers exit
It’s all going to come to a head very soon.
It’s clear that Sam Lammers wants to leave Rangers but given the striker’s form in the Netherlands, the Gers could demand a sizeable fee for the striker.
With a rebuild on our doorstep Rangers will want to get Lammers off the wage bill and any transfer fee recycled into Koppen and Clement’s coffers.
Utrecht will either have to put up the necessary transfer fee to sign the ex-PSV star or risk another side from the Eredivisie swooping in to complete a deal.
One thing is for sure, given the apparently absolute nature of the decision to cut ties, this is not a transfer saga Rangers will want to linger on late into the window.
There’s still plenty of time to strike a deal that suits everyone but unless Utrecht put their hands in their pockets, something tells us Rangers won’t be waiting around.
And neither will Sam Lammers.
