Ianis Hagi is not thinking about Rangers this summer despite being cut from the club’s Champions League squad for Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven.
That is according to Ilie Dumitrescu, the former Romania international speaking to DigiSport about the situation facing Rangers’ number seven ahead of the final week of the summer transfer window.
Dumitrescu claims to have met with Ianis Hagi over a coffee, the conversation quickly turning to his future at club level. And while some have suggested that the playmaker’s omission from that PSV clash signified the beginning of the end of his Ibrox career, Dumitrescu insists that the former Gent ace is not yet ready to throw in the proverbial towel.
“Ianis is focused on staying and proving himself (at Rangers). He doesn’t consider leaving,” Dumitrescu says.
“I even had a coffee with Hagi and there was no problem. Neither Ianis Hagi nor (his father) Gheorghe Hagi would want (him to leave Rangers).”
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Ianis Hagi not ready to leave Rangers yet
Hagi Jr joined Rangers in a £3 million deal during the Steven Gerrard era. After spending almost the entirety of last season on the sidelines with a serious knee injury, he has played only 35 minutes of football in 2023/24. Not one of those have come in the Scottish Premiership.
The arrivals of Todd Cantwell, Sam Lammers, Kieran Dowell and Abdallah Sima have done his hopes of a Rangers revival no good either, with Rabbi Matondo also emerging as a genuine difference-maker.
Matondo scored a brilliantly-crafted equaliser off the bench in that 2-2 PSV draw.
Mick Beale opens door to sale
“I have no issue with Ianis. He did well at the weekend (against Greenock Morton in the Scottish League Cup,” Beale argues, albeit while refusing to rule out a potential late-summer exit (Daily Record).
“(Hagi) wants to play as a starter, and we might look at that before the window closes. He is competing with Cantwell and Lammers here.
“Ianis has worked very hard over the summer to be fit. He isn’t at an optimal fitness level yet. He wants to play week in week out, and that isn’t guaranteed at Rangers. Ianis and his agent have been looking at things in the last week or so. (They) have had an ongoing discussion.
“We can’t guarantee him first team football here.”