Europa League outfit one step closer to signing Rangers man after £18m windfall

07/02/2024 10:00 AM

In a transfer window, big-money deals tend to have ripple affects.

One player makes a high-profile switch to one of Europe’s major clubs, and the money then filters down the levels, the selling club needing a replacement and so on.

So when Portuguese giants Benfica confirmed the identity of their new £18 million on Monday, was that the first domino to fall in Sam Lammers’ likely departure from Rangers?

And if Lammers does indeed end up stepping into the shoes of a man who shared the Eredivisie Golden Boot last season while netting 33 goals in all competitions, well, lets just say those rather sizeable boots will take some filling.

Vangelis Pavlidis, the (joint) most prolific and most stylish centre-forward in Dutch football, has finally completed his protracted £18 million switch to Lisbon.

Rangers’ Sam Lammers could return to the Eredivisie

“Benfica is Benfica! If Benfica calls you, you can't say no,” Pavlidis explains, via Mais Futebol. “When I heard that Benfica was interested in me, I immediately felt excited about being able to represent this great club, to be able to play in this incredible stadium and in front of the many fans that the club has.

"I had some good years in the Netherlands. I wanted to take the next step, and I think that the best step for my career would be to come to Benfica.

“That's why: to play for a big club, to show the best of myself, to improve as a player and personally. Benfica is the best club for my career to develop.”

Pavlidis is not just a goalscorer. He is not just a ‘number nine’.

His replacement at AZ Alkmaar, then, must be more than your old-fashioned penalty-box poacher. Pavlidis, swaggering around the pitch with a balance and an elegance reminiscent of Fred Astaire in his ballroom pomp, is also a superb link man and someone who can take the ball under pressure, hold off defenders and open up space for others.

Rangers fans might not have seen too many of those attributes from Sam Lammers during the Dutchman’s ill-fated half-season at Ibrox before moving to FC Utrecht on loan in January.

But suggestions that AZ have identified Lammers as Pavlidis’ ideal successor, via the Scottish Sun, show how highly Lammers is still regarded back in the Netherlands even if his success outside of his homeland have been minimal, to say the least.

AZ Alkmaar may find a way to fund his wages

Lammers was superb at Utrecht, after all, scoring 10 times in 18 matches. For comparison, he netted twice in 31 games for Rangers.

The issue, really, is not Lammers’ price-tag. Rangers are reportedly willing to sell their £3 million misfit at a loss.

But with Lammers on £20,000-a-week – as explained by reporter Hans Kraay Jr with ESPN – either he must take a sizeable pay cut to return to the Eredivisie permanently, or AZ must utilise some of that £18 million windfall in financing a contract for a player who would immediately become comfortably their best-paid.

As for Utrecht, head coach Ron Jans has not given up just yet. But even the most optimistic of men would have to admit that their chances look slim.

"It is not yet 100 per cent (sure that Lammers will not return)," Jans told ESPN back in June. "But less than 50 per cent."

"We keep hoping and will not give up until it is final.”