European football and a shot at silverware with Rangers, or Serie A football at a team hovering only two points above Italy’s relegation zone?
From a very blue-tinted perspective, the decision is a pretty easy one. The Scottish Premiership may not possess the star power of Serie A, but Rangers still have Europa League action and the Scottish Cup to look forward to heading into 2025.
For Genoa, in contrast, the best the Grifone can hope for at the moment is survival.
A 2-1 home defeat by Scudetto-chasing Napoli in their final outing of the calendar year leaves Patrick Vieira’s team closer to the bottom of the table than they are to Udinese in ninth.
Yet, Darius Olaru is still being urged to choose Liguria over Glasgow.
Rangers have been linked with the Romania playmaker again heading into the January window, albeit somewhat tentatively.
Olaru, reportedly a long-time target of the Ibrox giants, has already announced his desire to leave FCSB after captaining the club formerly known as Steaua Bucharest to their first league title in a decade last season.
What’s more, with a £4 million release clause in his contract, Olaru feels like quite the bargain.
- READ MORE: Rangers Transfer History 2016-Present
Darius Olaru urged to choose Serie A strugglers Genoa over Rangers
For a 26-year-old footballer operating at the peak of his powers, a midfielder with 15 goals and seven assists under his belt already across 2024/25, £4 million represents excellent value for money even if that would still account for a sizeable chunk of Rangers’ budget.
But when asked who Olaru should pick, if the choice boils down to Rangers or Genoa, his former coach at Romanian outfit Gaz Metan Medias was emphatic in his response.
“Genoa,” Cristi Pustai tells Sport pe Surse. “If he copes in Italy, then he can play anywhere.
“I’ve always said about Darius Olaru that he’s a player who can handle any league, but he has to go and play. He’s at the age where he has to do that, to also play in the national team.
“He has to be very careful about the choice he makes. It also depends on the conditions under which the transfer will be made.
“In the end, Darius must be aware that it is a decisive moment, when he has to choose. Considering that the other Romanians have started playing in Italy, I think Olaru will cope [over in Serie A]. I predict he will cope.
Genoa were recently taken over by Romanian businessman Dan Sucu. That also goes some way to explaining why Rangers’ Ianis Hagi has been linked with a switch to Italy himself, even if that feels unlikely given the way he has re-established himself in the heart of Philippe Clement’s side over recent weeks.
Hagi’s agent played down those Genoa reports this month.
Olaru ‘deserves’ Rangers switch amid Neil Lennon praise
Celtic legend and former Rapid Bucharest coach Neil Lennon feels Rangers would benefit from Darius Olaru’s arrival, meanwhile.
A new number ten does appear to be an option under consideration, Rangers taking a close look at NK Osijek starlet Marko Soldo following his impressive evolution from a deep-lying midfielder into a box-crashing attacker.
Soldo has the advantage of being both younger and cheaper than Olaru. The FCSB skipper, though, is potentially a more low-risk option, if not a low-cost one.
“You know there’s a five million euro clause. He can leave if there is a team that pays five million euros,” one-time Romania forward Banel Nicolita tells AS.
“I would like to [say he deserves a move to Rangers] with all my heart, because he is a hardworking player. A good player. From my point of view, he is the best footballer in Romania.
“He has proven it. His numbers speak for themselves, [so] he deserves to join a top team.”
