Rangers cannot afford to discard any players available too them due to the strength of the squad and Ianis Hagi is still of use to the first team, says Derek Ferguson.
The Romanian international has been frozen out of the first-team picture despite wanting to stay [Sky Sports, 12 August] but has been performing well for the B Team.
A clause in his contract that would trigger a pay rise appears to be behind the decision not to use him [Daily Record, 13 August], and Clement has made clear publicly that he has no plans for the 25-year-old [via Rangers Review, 5 August].
But Ferguson believes the entire situation is “very odd” when the squad is short of quality that Hagi could provide, and doesn’t think the manager is in a position to completely disregard such a player.
He exclusively told Ibrox News: “First and foremost I like that Hagi is still playing in that B Team, still training hard.
“We get the inclination that he wants to still be a Rangers player. I know with that clause, I think it’s an extra six grand he gets in maybe a lump sum.
“But we’re so bereft of quality and Hagi, in my eyes, is a good player.
“He can play in that number 10 role that the manger [wants], he’s not going to change his system, he’s going to play this 4-2-3-1 and the number 10 role is really important.
“I think Hagi would probably slot in there and do us a turn because we’ve not got any competition in terms of [Tom] Lawrence in that position.
“It’s like the manager has maybe just thought, ‘Right. No it’s not going to work’. And he’s discarded him.
“I don’t think you can afford to discard any player at the moment because of the state of the squad that we’re in. It’s very odd”
Rangers get nothing from Ianis Hagi, Todd Cantwell and Alex Lowry
It makes sense that the Light Blues need to be careful with their cash after making a myriad of errors in the transfer market in recent seasons.
But, a decent game in the 6-0 win over Ross County aside, Tom Lawrence has largely flattered to deceive as the regular starter at number 10.
And with Todd Cantwell also left out of first-team activities after asking to leave, while homegrown talent Alex Lowry is also turning out for the B Team there aren’t a huge amount of options in the first team.
Hagi has been linked to Fiorentina [Digi Sport, 26 July] and Rapid Bucharest who have sacked Neil Lennon [Fanatik, 20 August], but if a move hasn’t materialised and he wants to stay a rethink may be needed.
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