Life has a funny way of being cruel, Ianis Hagi has long looked like the perfect player to play as a number ten. Steven Gerrard’s system never accommodated for such a player but when Giovanni van Bronckhorst arrived it looked as though the Romanian international was about to get his chance.
Joe Aribo then put in as good an individual display as we have seen against Sparta Prague operating just off Alfredo Morelos and the position has been his ever since.
Only twice was Hagi deployed in a more central position and both times he barely had a chance to impress, the first time through someone else getting injured when he got moved and the second, against Stirling Albion, when he suffered his season ending injury.
There has though, amongst all the negativity, been some good news – as reported by Vital Rangers – and that is that Hagi is back on his feet and getting to use a ball as part of his rehabilitation, the 23-year old revealing that, despite the setback, he is still as two footed as ever.
It’s only now that we truly raise how important Hagi might’ve been for us, the last few weeks when Aribo has struggling would have been a great chance to rotate our main playmaker. It’s still the position that I think suits him best where attributes like being able to use both feet, shoot from range and find team-mates with passes is of more use than being able to beat a man 1v1.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst
Back him.
Sack him.
Pre-season might come too soon for Hagi but, with Aribo looking like he wants to be somewhere else, perhaps he might yet get his chance to be the main man after all.