Rangers’ big issue in shifting Sam Lammers has been reported repeatedly by Ibrox Noise is wages. It’s not transfer fee, it’s wages. The fee is anywhere between £2M-£3.5M which is negotiable, but as Utrecht chief Jordy Zuidam said:
“Obviously, it’s clear Sam is above our salary cap. But we found a model with Rangers that was manageable for us. We now have to find a way with Sam and his club to keep him. We are fully committed to signing Sam permanently. He is a very important member of our team. We did everything we could to bring him here on loan and we will do everything possible to bring him here on a permanent deal. We have spoken to him several times and he is really a guy who is obsessed with football. He has said that he wants to finish the season, but is definitely considering it. Apart from the sporting thing, there is more to it, and now the question is: can that come together? We will look for all possibilities to keep him. I hope that will be enough.”
It isn’t.
In the same way Rangers were knocked back on Joan Jordan by trying to part-fund the Spaniard, Utrecht have been knocked back offering similar for Lammers.
The real problem?
Sam Lammers is symptomatic of the greater problem at Ibrox – way way too many players on £20,000+ pw wages which rules out about 95% of the clubs who would normally take the players at their levels.
Rangers, by putting these guys on that salary, have effectively blocked an exit because the players in question won’t accept 50% of their current salary, which is what the bulk of European clubs could pay.
Lammers, Tom Lawrence, Todd Cantwell, Ben Davies, Rabbi Matondo, Connor Goldson, Danilo, Jack Butland, Cyriel Dessers, and many others are on staggeringly fat wages for, in many cases, a poor return, and Rangers can’t get guys like these off the wage bill because the clubs who would want them can’t afford their salary.
It’s put us in a very tricky position.
The only way to get them off the bill is to run down the contract, and let them negotiate a new salary at a new club, but that’s down the line. In the case of transfer, few players will accept a lesser wage – that’s just capitalism.
Unfortunately the bulk of Championship clubs won’t spend £20K either, and that’s the unique situation Rangers are in.
We’ve signed players and given them a Champions League or lower Premier League/top five league level salary, and they have no desire to chuck that away.
If Sam Lammers really, really wanted to join Utrecht and wasn’t bothered about wages, he’d join them at 50% of his current numbers.
But he isn’t throwing away that money – and it’s hard to blame him.
It’s Ross Wilson and Mick Beale heavily culpable here – they negotiated and sanctioned most of these salaries, although Wilson wasn’t involved last summer but Beale sure was, and it’s left Rangers with a massive wage bill we’re struggling to offload and free up.
That unique situation is living our means, as Celtic do, like a top 5 league club, but in Rangers’ case, not having the funding to keep doing it.
It means we’ve hit our limit, can’t go over, and now we have to find ways to get these expensive duds off our hands, which means shipping them out to clubs who can afford them.
Unfortunately the ones who can afford them, don’t want them – they’re nowhere near good enough.
Look at Lundstram and Barisic – we couldn’t sell them for love nor money, same as Morelos and Kent (after bad decisions from management following offers) and we ended up losing them for free.
But their salaries were in the £22K region, only Morelos’ being higher (£33K) because he signed two extensions.
And Lunny and Barisic got their Turkish moves (as did Kent) because Trabzonspor compromised on wage, and crucially, offered their contract length demands. They also didn’t have to pay a fee, just a signing on pot.
Meaning?
Trabzonspor wouldn’t have given £22K to Sam Lammers as well as £3M to Rangers – they would wait till the guy was out of contract and find other ways to keep him happy but not pay his full salary. Win bonuses, contract length you name it.
End of the day Rangers gave out too much to players undeserving of it.
And now we’re kind of stuck with them because the typical target market we’d sell them to can’t afford their wages.
Unless someone thinks a League One club, with an average of £6,000pw wage, is going to break that to pieces for Tom Lawrence?