When Rangers signed Sam Lammers in the summer window, there were already plenty of doubts about the then Atalanta star.
Once amongst the most highly-rated talents in Dutch football – with the Serie A side signing a reported £9.5m (€11m) deal to sign Lammers in 2020 – the last three seasons have been a bitter disappointment for the attacker.
With six goals in three years across multiple loan deals prior to moving to Rangers, Ibrox fans raised their eyebrows over the move with the reported £3.5m deal an expensive one for a player clearly devoid of form.
Michael Beale has spoken previously about his attraction to Sam Lammers – which first stems from a youth game during the player’s time at PSV Eindhoven – and it’s clear the Rangers boss reckons he can turn the attacker’s situation around.
Given Beale has also claimed he sees Sam Lammers as a creative number 10, there are questions about how the beanpole forward fits into the Rangers team as the club’s disjointed XI is shuffled around to accommodate the Dutchman’s specific set of skills.
Skills which are as of yet to pay off for a Rangers team devoid of confidence and increasingly devoid of belief from the stands.
Sam Lammrs has it all to do to prove worth to Rangers fans
Sam Lammers is clearly a player of great technical ability and he can move the ball very nicely between his feet in a way which should create openings in a packed final third.
But it’s clear the player is struggling with the expectation of Rangers and in front of goal, that recent miss v Celtic sums up the kind of start he’s had at Ibrox.
With neat feet in a confined space, Lammers rounded Joe Hart in a nice moment of skill before fluffing his lines with the finish. Perhaps it also sums up the player’s career to date.
We have seen flashes of the player – Lammers’ rare and fine finish for his only Rangers goal against Livingston and his role in James Tavernier’s goal in the humiliation of Eindhoven particular bright spots – but there has not been enough of a contribution when it really matters.
The forward stands accused of drifting out of games, failing to properly exert himself on the matches, with a lack of character and confidence clear for everyone to see.
When Rangers pay the kind of money on both a transfer fee and wages which will be connected to the Sam Lammers deal there has to be some kind of immediate impact.
At 26-years-old we should be getting a forward entering his prime years and excuses about settling in quite simply will not wash with a Rangers support fed lines about the ambition of this summer’s rebuild.
Alongside the stuttering Cyriel Dessers, the fact that both of these players have struggled to fit into Michael Beale’s increasingly disillusioned tactical system and missed big opportunities is being taken by plenty in the Ibrox support as an ominous sign.
No-one has quite yet turned on Sam Lammers at Rangers but as the weeks go by doubts are gathering and both the forward and Michael Beale have it all to prove at Ibrox.
