Sam Lammers branded 'worst on pitch' despite Rangers outcast breaking Utrecht record

Sam Lammers has been branded the "worst player on the pitch" by his manager despite breaking a new goal scoring record with Utrecht.

The Rangers outcast has been enjoying his football with Utrecht since arriving in the winter window and he's hit nine goals in 15 outings since making the move. He bagged another strike over the weekend in a 2-2 draw with RKC Waalwijk on Sunday afternoon and, in doing so, broke a Dutch record of netting across seven matches in a row.

But manager Ron Jans wasn't too happy with the 26-year-old's overall performance and insisted he was probably the worst player to play last weekend.

Still, according to Jans there was never a chance of taking off the loanee as he's shown too often how important he is to the club. And with his goal in the seventh game in a row, Lammers proved his coach right.

"Sam was perhaps the worst player on the pitch for us, but I never even considered taking him off," Jans said. "He has simply built up too much credit with us for that.

"Sam is really a great striker. I sincerely hope we can keep him.”

Lammers remains contracted at Ibrox until 2027 but he's never hidden the fact that he'd be open to staying in the Eredivisie should the opportunity present itself.

And on strengthening his record in future weeks, he added: "If I managed to score in the three remaining games it would be great because I would have scored in ten matches in a row and also because it would mean we would probably qualify for Europe.

"I didn't play well, but as a striker, you are judged on goals so I am happy with my recent goalscoring run."