With Rangers close to announcing Dutch 26-year-old striker Sam Lammers, assuming he passes today’s medical, where do we stand on the Atalanta forward?

Obviously a lot of fans are unhappy at best with this signing, £2.5M not being pennies to Rangers these days as we seek to wrest the title back off Celtic, and with Lammers’ CV not being one to inspire supporters that we’ve added Erling Haaland to the ranks, there is a little rumble of discontent.

Lammers, let’s be clear, has struggled in football since the season before he actually left PSV Eindhoven (who he flopped with btw). Some supporter groups are discussing the angle of the ‘10’ position, that the lad will be the hold-up man behind a proper 9, likely to be Cyriel Dessers, but in truth, while it’s worth considering, which we did yesterday, it’s still just conjecture.

We don’t really know what Michael Beale’s plans for Lammers are, and at the end of the day, it is a very strange choice of striker.

Indeed, since 2019, which was the last time he was prolific (for Heerenveen), he has been a dud. We’re not going to make bones about this, we’re not going to feed you the nonsense some are – Lammers, as a goalscoring striker, has failed in the last three or four seasons at every club he’s been at, INCLUDING PSV for whom his form dramatically tailed off before he was sold for about £7M to Atalanta.

Sadly for him, and Atalanta, that continued, and he has a disastrous 8 goals in all competitions in four years for a plethora of clubs including Sampdoria, Empoli, and Eintracht.

So let’s not make a claim that he was 100% incredible in the Eredivisie then it just dramatically tailed off in Italy – he had started struggling the season he left, first with a dreadful injury, then two goals and an assist in 7 final PSV appearances.

And that injury-ravaged 2019/2020 seems to be the player he is now – he had a very bad knee problem, had surgery on it aged 23, and since then has been a shadow of that previous predator.

So… what exactly does Michael Beale intend for this risky signing?

We don’t know – he doesn’t strike us as a 10 at all, there is nothing about his recent CV to indicate he’s capable of that kind of play. He has had ONE good season in senior football – 2018/2019 in which he got 16 in 31 for Heerenveen in the Eredivisie, but that’s four years ago. Prior to that he was in the Dutch youth leagues for PSV where he did ok.

He was injury-wrecked at PSV as a senior and only played a handful of times for them, before they cut their losses with a £7M sale to Atalanta, and his bad form continued. Or started.

A hold-up man?

We’re not seeing anything to indicate that’s accurate. He’s supposed to be a goalscorer, and was for Heerenveen, but since then it’s been dreadful for him.

So Michael Beale is taking a very intriguing chance with £2.5M (which shows you the regard Atalanta hold him in) that somehow this manager can get the old Lammers back, that we can get the in-form more free-scoring Dutch striker back. We just don’t think he’s being signed as a 10 style-hold up man, because we’ve plenty of those kinds of players.

Furthermore, looking at how he plays, he thrived in Heerenveen in 18/19 but has been completely unable to recapture any of that form in four years for any club.

All the scouting research we’re seeing about Lammers highlights his strengths and positives of technical play and holding the ball up, but it all applies to that same season – unfortunately that campaign doesn’t matter because it’s long-gone and Michael Beale is taking a risk trying to recapture it with £2.5M.

Lammers was broken by a knee injury and he’s been struggling in football since.

Beale’s really, really gambling that a fresh start will see the old Lammers return.