Ianis Hagi’s talent as a footballer is not up for debate, however, he needs to find a level of consistency which would see him true fulfil his potential.
Despite how much he clearly loves being at Rangers, there is little chance of the 22-year old spending the rest of his career in Glasgow, for a start, there will always be other teams looking to sign him and if we are to have a fully functioning player trading model, selling key assets has to be the way forward.
A report in En Son Haber in Hagi’s adopted homeland of Turkey suggests that his time might soon be up with a replacement already identified, coincidentally, another Romanian international:
“Olimpiu Morutan, who has not had a chance in Galatasaray recently, has a serious suitor. It was learned that Glasgow Rangers took the Romanian star on their agenda.
“It was noted that the Scottish team, which is preparing to sell Ianis Hagi for a serious amount, will knock on Galatasaray’s door for Morutan.”
Morutan only signed for Galatasaray in the summer so any deal for the midfielder wouldn’t come cheap, the report may claim that he is a possible option to step into Hagi’s shoes but he is a totally different type of midfielder and is far from the dynamic, goal scoring right winger that we need to balance up Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s system.
Having only paid £3million for Hagi, we will be looking to make a major profit when he does leave and he could well be the first of our big name players to leave given that his role in the team is not yet clear, although he has started five of the six games that Van Bronckhorst has been in charge of which suggests that he has plans for him.
There is likely to be movement in both directions when the January transfer window opens, who goes and whether or not it is Hagi with Morutan replacing him, we’ll have to wait and see.