Rangers star Ianis Hagi turned down an offer from La Liga to sign for Rangers, the attacking midfielder has confirmed.
The former Genk star signed on loan from the Belgian club in the January of 2020 and quickly set about adopting the winning mentality which is required at Rangers.
Whilst the season was called prematurely, Hagi did enough to impress Ibrox bosses who made the deal permanent with a reported £3m move last summer.
Since then Ianis has gone on to become an important part of the Rangers squad and an increasingly influential member of the XI.
Last season, Hagi was the Scottish Premiership’s top assister and already this campaign the 23-year-old has come up big for the club when required.
Rangers star Ianis Hagi turned down La Liga club to sign for Rangers
Speaking to the Athletic as he promoted the Juan Mata led Common Goal charity, which sees pro footballers donate 1% of their wages to charitable causes, Hagi revealed there was interest from Spain but he’s delighted he chose Rangers.
“It feels like there are so many places in football, but there aren’t,” said Hagi.
“Each player needs to find that right team, right coach, right environment to be successful. That’s what I felt with my career.
“That’s when I came here I thought, ‘this is amazing’. I didn’t know that at the beginning,. I was in Belgium with my family and my agent told me there was a team in Spain who really wanted me and Rangers.
“My dream league since I was a kit was Spain so I was tending to lean more there, but at the same time I knew the coach was Steven Gerrard, so it was so attractive because I was going to be managed by one of the best midfielders in history.
“I spoke to my father as I didn’t know much about Rangers and he said, ‘This is a no brainer. I’ve there and it’s a huge club, it’s the right mentality for you’.”
Rangers star Hagi has gone on to become an influential player for the Ibrox side and fans praised the midfielder’s post-match interview after the recent Europa League draw with Brondby.
