Glasgow Rangers head coach Philippe Clement secured a place in the semi-finals of the SFA Cup with a comfortable 2-0 win over Hibernian on Sunday.
John Lundstram and Fabio Silva, who arrived on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers in January, scored the goals to take the Gers one step closer to another trophy this season.
Whilst the Light Blues will be focused on success in the Scottish Premiership, the Europa League, and the SFA Cup, the Belgian boss may also have an eye on the club's contract situation heading into the summer.
Lundstram, Kemar Roofe, Borna Barisic, Ryan Jack, Leon Balogun, and Jon McLaughlin are all set to become free agents later this year, and it remains to be seen what the future has in store for them at Ibrox.
Clement, however, must allow Roofe to move on upon the expiry of his contract as his fitness issues have made him an unreliable player to have in the squad, and the Gers may already have their surprise heir to the striker in Sam Lammers, who is currently out on loan.
Why Rangers should release Kemar Roofe
The 31-year-old centre-forward has been plagued by consistent injury problems throughout his career with the Scottish giants, which is why the club should now move on from him.
Since the start of the 2020/21 campaign, Roofe has missed a staggering 96 competitive fixtures for Rangers with eight separate injury issues.
Including his time with Anderlecht in the 2019/20 season, the experienced striker has missed at least 12 matches in each of the last five campaigns.
This highlights how unreliable he has been throughout his career, particularly during his spell at Ibrox, and that is why Clement cannot rely on him to be a useful option within the squad, as the manager rarely has him available to select in games.
To make matters worse, Roofe has also struggled on the pitch when he has been able to play this season. The former Leeds United star has only found the back of the net twice in 19 first-team appearances in all competitions for the Gers, which comes after a return of two goals in six outings during the 2022/23 campaign.
Overall, the Jamaica international has plundered an impressive 38 goals and seven assists in 97 games for the Glasgow giants since joining the club in 2020.
The key statistic to note there, however, is that he has only played 97 matches for the Light Blues, which is only one more than the number of fixtures (96) he has missed through injury.
To miss almost every other game on average over a nearly four-year period is enough evidence, coupled with his poor form in front of goal this season, to suggest that Rangers should not be renewing his contract.
Clement must now decided to release him at the end of the campaign, and the Belgian boss could unearth a surprise heir to his place in the squad by offering Lammers a chance to revive his career at Ibrox after an underwhelming first half of this season.
Sam Lammers' Rangers career in numbers
Formers Gers head coach Michael Beale decided to swoop to sign the versatile forward from the Serie A side Atalanta during the last summer transfer window for a reported fee of £3.5m.
The left-footed attacker, who had once been compared to Ruud van Nistelrooy, failed to hit the ground running in Scotland with a number of fairly unimpressive performances on the pitch.
Lammers only contributed with two goals and one assist in 17 appearances, which included ten starts, in the Premiership for the Light Blues, which shows that he did not provide quality in the final third on a consistent basis.
The 26-year-old gem also went six matches without a goal or an assist in the group stages of the Europa League, and failed to directly contribute to a goal in four League Cup outings.
He only managed two goals and two assists in 31 appearances for the club in all competitions, including the qualifiers for the Champions League at the start of the season, which is a return of one goal or assist every 7.8 matches on average.
However, the marksman only played one match as a centre-forward as he spent the vast majority of his time as either an attacking midfielder or a second striker.
His form as a number nine since leaving the club to join FC Utrecht on loan as their starting striker suggests that Rangers missed a trick by not playing him there.
Sam Lammers' stats with Utrecht
The attacker was sent out on loan to the Dutch outfit for the second half of this season in January, and all nine of his appearances for the club so far have come as a centre-forward.
Lammers has played regular minutes in his natural position for the first time during the 2023/24 campaign, which has led to an increased output in the final third.
He has racked up two goals and three assists in nine Eredivisie outings for Utrecht so far, which is already two more goal contributions than he managed in 17 Premiership matches for the Gers.
Appearances
17
9
Goals
2
2
Big chances missed
6
0
Assists
1
3
Big chances created
1
5
Key passes per game
0.3
1.3
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, Lammers has offered far more quality at the top end of the pitch in the Netherlands as a centre-forward than he did in Scotland as a number ten or winger.
The 6 foot 3 whiz, who was hailed as a "fantastic" asset for Utrecht by Dutch TV pundit Kees Luijckx, has been far more clinical in front of goal, with zero 'big chances' missed, and provided significantly more creativity, with over four times as many key passes per game.
Therefore, Clement must take notice of the 26-year-old star's impressive form for the Dutch side and offer him a chance to audition for the role of Roofe's heir in the summer.
Lammers has yet to have a chance to play regularly as a striker for Rangers, having been used as a number ten, and that is why he could be a surprise replacement for the former Leeds number nine, as the Ibrox faithful have not had much of an opportunity to see him perform in that role.