You wouldn’t believe me if I told you that Rangers could sign one of Europe’s most dangerous playmakers under the age of 25 for free in January and that he would be guaranteed to join, however, in Ianis Hagi, that’s what we have.
The Romania international has enjoyed a fine return to form this season, a move to Deportivo Alaves earning him a recall for his country.
What his form has also done is put his name up alongside Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe with the on-loan Rangers midfielder proving that there is plenty still to come from Ianis Hagi.
Rangers have one of Europe’s best in Ianis Hagi
For one reason or another, Michael Beale just didn’t fancy Hagi.
You would have thought, having seen how important the 25-year old was in our title winning season when he was the young player of the year, that he would be well placed to get the best out of him once again.
Pre-season and the start of this season was no different either.
Philippe Clement must be scratching his head over some of the decisions that his predecessor made as Rangers manager and the treatment of Ianis Hagi must be right up there.
The new Gers boss will have been aware of Hagi from his time of Belgium and it may be that there is a place for him in the team when he returns from loan.
Looking at the table that has assessed expected threat or expected goals plus expected assists, Ianis Hagi sits in ninth place on 0.78 per 90 minutes.
What this means over a season is that you would expect Rangers to get around 30 goal contributions if Ianis Hagi played 40 games.
He is the sort of player who can frustrate but, equally, he is also capable of match winning moments.
What Clement would also find appealing is that Hagi has exactly the sort of mentality needed for a team looking to play front foot football, either as a number eight, ten or on the right-hand side of midfield.
He’s maybe not going to be on penalties if he comes back, but form like this, in La Liga, proves he is more than good enough to be playing for Rangers.
