Ianis Hagi is keen to stay at Rangers despite being frozen out of the first team picture, according to Sky Sports.
An update on the broadcaster’s website on 12 August (7.18pm) reported that Philippe Clement has told the Romanian international that he is not in the plans for the coming season anyway and can leave.
The attacker has been turning out for the B Team and putting in impressive performances, with a hat-trick registered in his previous appearance against Derby County to leave observers stunned that he is being left out [Mark McDougall, 10 August].
Hagi reportedly has an agreement in place with Fiorentina [SportpeSure, 21 July], with a deal worth more than £2million potentially on the cards [Digi Sport, 26 July].
Rangers B Team star could join Fiorentina, unwanted at Ibrox
It is certainly a bold move by Clement to discount the possibility that Hagi could have something to offer when he has given Scott Wright three consecutive starts to kick off the campaign.
The Romanian hasn’t played for over a year after spending last season on loan with Alaves in La Liga, and seemed to want to move on [MARCA, 21 March].
But after a solid Euro 2024 with Romania he looks to have returned to form after some stand-out showings with the B Team, albeit at an easier level.
Clement needs to move players out to make his own signings so if he has no plans for Hagi it would be in everyone’s best interest for a transfer to be pushed through urgently.
But if that isn’t going to happen there might be some scope in using him prior to the deadline at least, with new signing Oscar Cortes out injured and star loanee Vaclav Cerny not ready to play 90 minutes.
The manager wanting to clear players out is no surprise, and nor is a desire to focus on players he has long-term plans for.
But his continues use of the exit-linked Wright [Darren Witcoop, 23 July] seems to somewhat undercut those stances, and if the Light Blues fail to get past Dynamo Kyiv on 13 August it could look short-sighted to have ignored Hagi’s form.
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