Sam Lammers speaks out after Rangers exit in January transfer window, claims he didn’t have to leave Ibrox
Sam Lammer says he didn’t have to leave Rangers this month but the intent shown by FC Utrecht was “very, very important” in the move.
The forward has struggled to adapt to life at Ibrox following his summer move from Atalanta and will now spend the second half of the campaign on loan in the Eredivisie, where he has revealed he expects a lot from himself.
The 26-year-old claimed his “fascination” is scoring, which he didn’t do enough of in a Rangers shirt with just two from 31 total appearances under Micheal Beale and Philippe Clement, meaning his time back in the Netherlands may be the precursor to a permanent exit.
Lammers said, as per Football Scotland (14 January): “I really didn’t necessarily have to leave Rangers, a wonderful club of course. But when you notice in conversations how much technical director Jordy Zuidam and the manager Ron Jans wanted to bring me to Utrecht, it made me think. That was very, very important to me and I’m really so happy to be here.
“At Rangers, the question was whether I would feature much in the second half of the season. Hence my choice for Utrecht, a club that has always appealed to me. I believe that with this team, which has many good players, we will have a great second half of the season.
“I’ve been given the No.9 jersey and that’s the striker’s number isn’t it? Scoring goals is something magical. As a child, I was obsessed with Zinedine Zidane and Dennis Bergkamp, who were more No.10s than pure strikers. I could watch them endlessly on the DVDs I had of them.
“But my fascination was scoring. And it still is that way. Although I can also perform in other roles, I really feel like a No.9. I am really looking forward to my adventure at Utrecht. I think the only way is up for the club and I would like to contribute to that. I expect a lot from myself.”
Let down
Rangers supporters will likely all be thinking the same thing in reaction to Lammers’ comments after his move back to the Eredivisie, after a very underwhelming time in the SPFL.
Aside from an, admittedly excellent, strike against Dundee there was very little evidence of the Dutchman’s obsession with scoring despite heavy involvement this season.
And considering he has only scored 11 goals in total over the past four and a half seasons he clearly hasn’t backed it up for some time, a fact which made Beale’s pursuit of him in the summer surprising, and his inability to repay that faith very frustrating for Gers fans.
He hasn’t scored regularly since his time with Herenveen so the hope from all sides will be that a return to the Dutch top flight is what Lammers’ needs to re-find his best form in front of goal.
FA Utrecht are reportedly not capable of getting close to the figure of over £3million that Rangers paid for him in the summer so unless his form in the coming months attracts the interest of another suitor the Ibrox hierarchy will probably have to brace themselves to lose money on the deal.
It would be a major turn up for him to return to Clement’s squad and be a major contributor next season, so it may be that he has already played his last game for the club.
In other Rangers news, an Ibrox transfer target has refused the club in order to agree rival terms.