It has been a summer of ups and downs for Rangers, just as Philippe Clement got going in the transfer market, things ground to a halt.
The manager has predicted a busy week as the clock ticks down towards the window shutting, however, as yet, there have been no new faces presented at Ibrox or Auchenhowie.
The squad is looking better but 3-4 players moving out and the same coming in would see Rangers in much better shape although one individual who seemed certain to leave now looks like he will be in Light Blue again this season.
Ianis Hagi going nowhere after Rangers exit links
Ianis Hagi hasn’t played for Rangers since the beginning of last summer if you don’t count the B team and his dad, Gheorghe, has claimed that the Romania international has nothing to prove.
The 25-year old is never far from the headlines with either his agent, his dad, or any number of coaches or former international players from Romania throwing in their tuppence worth on Hagi’s future.
After knocking back a bid from Rapid Bucharest, Hagi is back at square one in terms of his Rangers future with Gheorghe once again giving his opinion via The Rangers Review:
“Ianis isn’t coming back to Romania now. If he does ever come back, it will be to Farul Constanta.
“Forget what Rangers say, it’s what I say that counts.
“He has a contract with Rangers first and what has happened with him at Rangers is a story…an ugly story from the people responsible.
“It’s ugly.
“This is a player who went there when he was young, was their best player and then got injured.
“He fought back and what happened? He’s training on his own or whoever he’s training with.
“But when something like this happens in Western Europe, we are told, what claims do you have if you are from Romania?
“Excuse me, what would I know? I played at the highest level even though I’m from Romania.
“At one point I just said to them ‘shut up.’
“He won’t come here because he has proved he can be at Rangers. He was their best player.”
Hagi needs to start letting his football do the talking
This sort of thing does Ianis no favours at all.
Hagi, in his best season at Rangers, was very good and even collected the young player of the year award, but he wasn’t the “best player”.
Reading between the lines, Gheorghe seems to be venting a lot of frustration at how his son was handled once he returned to full fitness.
Philippe Clement’s only dealing with Hagi was in a meeting at the end of the 2023/24 season before the European Championships.
According to the Rangers manager, Hagi decided that his future lay elsewhere, an agreement that was mutual due to the playmaker’s contract and the system that Clement likes to play not being a great fit.
The Gers boss could use the money better by reinvesting, however, he will have a decision to make if Hagi is still at the club when the window closes – it is a situation that he can do little about but must leave him hugely frustrated.
What Hagi needs to do, if he does get another chance, is concetrate on the football, work hard in training, and make sure that his advisors and dad let him do his talking on the pitch, instead of them doing it off it.
