Gheorghe Hagi has launched a scathing attack on his son’s former club Genk and in particular, Felice Mazzu, the Manager of the Belgian side in an interview with The Scottish Sun.
Rangers recently completed the £3million signing of Ianis Hagi on a permanent deal after impressing on loan from Genk having been persuaded to move to Scottish football in January.
The Romanian football legend is far from happy with the treatment his son was subjected to but is confident that Ianis is now in the right place to continue his development and kick on to the next stage in his career.
When asked about what went wrong in Belgium for the talented playmaker, he said:
“I have just one question for Mazzu….why didn’t he play Ianis more often?
“Of course he will never answer that question. He started the season brilliantly at Genk and then Mazzu refused to play him for seven games in a row. He disappeared and neither Ianis or his team mates knew why.
“He was voted Man of the Match in a Champions League game against Napoli and then they didn’t play him.
“The Genk fans respected him and were completely puzzled why he wasn’t playing.
“When Ianis realised this, he knew he would have to leave. Genk had a great chance to give him a platform to play. But only Mazzu can answer why they didn’t.
“No wonder Ianis wanted to leave and join a club like Rangers who use him properly.”
When Ross Wilson negotiated Hagi’s deal and secured an exclusive option to buy – rumoured to be around £4m – it looked a great piece of business but to have completed the transfer and negotiated the fee down significantly, it could prove to be a masterstroke by Wilson.
Hagi had decent numbers for Genk before he was deemed surplus to requirements which made his departure all the more strange especially when the report in The Scottish Sun claims that they had originally paid £7m for the Romanian international.
Gheorghe has every right to question what happened in Belgium, however, Gers fans will have little sympathy for Genk given that they have just acquired one of European football’s most talented youngsters for significantly less than the going rate.