Glasgow Rangers head coach Philippe Clement looked to refresh his playing squad at Ibrox during the recent summer transfer window, which closed last month.
The Gers boss allowed a number of experienced first-team players to move on from Ibrox, including Connor Goldson, John Lundstram, Borna Barisic, Ryan Jack, Todd Cantwell, and Kemar Roofe.
Those exits paved the way for the likes of Hamza Igamane, Vaclav Cerny, Jefte, Connor Barron, and Robin Propper, among others, to come in and bolster the Rangers squad.
However, there is at least one player whom the Belgian manager must finally move on after failing to ditch him from the club in the summer window.
Latest on Ianis Hagi’s future
Romanian outlet SpotMedia, via the Daily Record, claims that Ianis Hagi is open to moving on from Rangers when the transfer window opens in January.
The report claims that the Romania international dug his heels in over a move away from Ibrox in the summer, as he wanted to stay and fight for his place in Glasgow.
However, he is one appearance away from a wage increase, with 99 games played for Rangers to date, and that has prevented him from being part of the group in the season so far under Clement.
SpotMedia now states that Hagi rejected a number of opportunities to leave on loan and is now open to leaving on a permanent basis in the next transfer window.
Clement must now finally ditch the £21k-per-week dud in the upcoming January window, because it has become clear that he will not feature for the first-team due to the clause in his contract.
Why Rangers should cash in on Ianis Hagi
The 25-year-old attacking midfielder has not played a single minute of action for Rangers in the 2024/25 campaign, since returning from his loan spell with Alaves last term.
Hagi was sent out on loan to the LaLiga outfit by Michael Beale in the summer of 2023, as the Romanian whiz looked to recover from a long-term knee injury.
The former Genk starlet missed a staggering 69 competitive matches for the Light Blues between January 2022 and January 2023 and he has struggled to get his career back on track since.
|
Rangers career (inc. Alaves loan) |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Ianis Hagi |
Pre-injury |
Post-injury |
|
Appearances |
86 |
39 |
|
Goals |
15 |
3 |
|
Assists |
21 |
2 |
|
Games per G/A |
2.38 |
7.8 |
As you can see in the table above, the long-term knee injury has, unsurprisingly, had a significant impact on the effectiveness of his performances on the pitch.
Hagi has not offered as much of a threat as either a scorer or a creator of goals for Rangers, or Alaves last season, since his length absence, having produced an eye-catching 36 goal contributions in 86 games for the Gers prior to that.
When you couple that with his £21k-per-week wages, which would rise with one more appearance for the club, then it makes sense for Clement to finally ditch him in the January window – taking advantage of the player now being open to a move away from Ibrox.
