Rangers chose to snub Ibrox trialist under Warburton, he’s just scored four goals in one game

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Rangers once took Vladislavs Gutkovskis on trial and the Latvian hitman racked up four goals in one game for Rakow Czestochowa over the weekend.

Back in the days of the Mark Warburton era, Rangers would occasionally take players on trial.

Ogeuchi Onyewu, Gai Assulin and Reece Wabara spring to mind whilst many Rangers fans will remember the strange, seemingly never-ending situation surrounding John Eustace’s trial.

Some trialists such as Philippe Senderos and Andy Halliday did land contracts with Rangers but others weren’t quite so lucky.

Rangers once took Vladislavs Gutkovskis

One such player was striker Vladislavs Gutkovskis.

Gutkovskis joined Rangers on trial after banging in the goals for Skonto Riga in his native Latvia.

43 goals in 70 games put Gutkovskis on the Rangers radar and he admitted to the Daily Record that he wanted to join the Gers.

Warburton ultimately had other ideas though and Gutkovskis left Rangers without being given a permanent contract.

Gutkovskis instead headed to Poland with Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza in Poland and his record wasn’t all that impressive; 33 goals in 112 games.

A move to another Polish side, Rakow Czestochowa, materialised in 2020 and he started to find his feet, hitting double figures in his first two seasons.

Now 27, Gutkovskis has made headlines in recent days after a stunning performance for Rakow.

Rakow hammered Wisla Plock 7-1 over the weekend and Gutkovskis scored not one, not two, not even three but four goals in that thrashing.

A fine header, a close-range finish and a penalty gave Kutkovskis his hat-trick inside 38 minutes.

A smart turn and finish gave Gutkovskis his fourth before half-time having only scored once in the Ekstraklasa this season before that game.

This isn’t to say that Rangers should have signed Gutkovskis – far from it.

It’s hard to imagine that Gutkovskis would be any better than Antonio Colak or Alfredo Morelos right now.

Yet now playing for Poland’s league leaders and second-placed team last season shows that Gutkovskis does have talent in front of goal and Rangers were onto something when they had a look at him as a youngster.

Who knows, if Rakow get into Europe next season, maybe Gutkovskis will end up playing against Rangers many years after Warburton decided to snub a move for the Latvian hitman.