Rangers star Ianis Hagi has once again been the subject of a barb from someone in the Romanian press – even though he impressed in a brief sub appearance against Motherwell.
The attacking midfielder is regularly berated by figures in his homeland and around football for an apparent lack of game time and underperforming at Ibrox.
That’s despite the midfielder being highly thought of at Rangers after a £3m summer move from Genk and an impressive if not inconsistent start to life at Ibrox.
The latest Romanian voice to slate the 22-year-old – who suffers with his father being legendary Romanian footballer Gheorghe Hagi – is Marcel Puscas.
A former teammate of his father, Puscas incredibly branded Hagi a failure and told people to “wake up” over the player’s ability.
“Ianis a talented kid born, formed, to be the number 10,” said Puscas [Daily Record].
“He was raised, despite certain qualities, in the subjective test tube of his own parents.
“It is the fate of many young Romanians. Parents want to find themselves in the child’s talent.
“In the case of Ianis, Gheorghe saw him as a born number 10. It’s just in his dad’s movie. He formed and raised him in this spirit of Hagi, he failed, and he will fail again.
“Ianis will not be able to play anywhere else. Neither in FCSB, Craiova or CFR Cluj. Maybe only on his father’s team, where he only plays and he needs 10 more colleagues.
“Ianis needs a father’s club, a club just for him. Nothing more. Sorry, Gica, that’s the reality. Wake up!”
These comments follow on from those of legendary Brazilian midfielder Rivaldo who for some reason urged Ianis to move on in the search of first-team football.
Amid complaints about Romania manager Mirel Radoi following a 4-0 hammering of Norway, Hagi was also dropped down to the U21 squad.
Radoi has since explained his decision and maintains he holds no hard feelings against the midfielder [sport.ro] and kept the door open for his return to the top team.
But this hasn’t stopped the press in his homeland gunning for the kid, the likes of Playtech claiming the midfielder is “going through a difficult moment in his career”.
It remains a common theme in the Romanian press to go through this kid but against Motherwell, Ianis was a positive option from the bench who upset the rhythm of a stubborn match.
That follows a season where Hagi Jnr has scored twice and assisted nine times, meaning he has contributed to 11 goals in only 22 games this season.
It’s not the first time we’ve criticised this tiresome narrative coming out of the foreign press regarding Ianis with much ignorance existing concerning the player’s time in Scotland.
