Ivan Rakitic has responded after being asked about the prospect of Rangers star Ianis Hagi joining him at Sevilla [Daily Record].
Rakitic has legendary status in Croatia with 106 caps to his name, while he played over 300 times for Barcelona between 2014 and 2020, winning 13 major honours.
The 33-year-old is now back at Sevilla, the club from which he joined Barça all those years ago, and is under contract until 2024.
The 2020/21 campaign was a relatively strong one for the Julen Lopetegui’s side, as they finished fourth in La Liga, just nine points behind champions Atletico Madrid.
Recruitment is expected this summer, though, and Hagi is one player who has been consistently linked with a transfer to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
When asked about the possibility of Hagi moving to Andalusia, Rakitic responded positively, although he insisted he had no inside information on the matter.
“I don’t know anything, I’m still a player I’m not the manager!” he said during a Favbet Romania event [Daily Record]. “Maybe he can come, I would receive him with open arms for sure.”
“I just invite all of you in Romania to come to Sevilla, to visit our city and our stadium, you will love it for sure.
“Hopefully he and many other Romanian guys can come to Sevilla.”
Rakitic’s response here is conditioned by the context of the event he’s attending but there does seem to be a respect for Hagi and his potential as a player.
At 22, he’s not yet the finished article, but he produced an impressive eight goals and 15 assists across all competitions for Rangers in the recently completed season, despite not nailing down a spot in the starting XI.
Judging by how Rangers have reportedly dealt with approaches from Lille and Galatasaray for Alfredo Morelos and Joe Aribo in recent windows, though, Sevilla would need to stump up a very sizeable offer to tempt the Lights Blues into selling Hagi.
In other news, a former Rangers star may take over from an Ibrox legend as manager of an ambitious club.
