£4m Rangers player affected by being dropped by Gerrard, int’l coach wants talks
Romania Under-21s coach Adrian Mutu wants to hold talks with Ianis Hagi after the Rangers ace suffered a drop in confidence.
Hagi, 22, joined the Light Blues on a permanent basis for £4million in the summer and looked as though he would be a key player for Steven Gerrard in the opening weeks of the season.
The former Genk attacker started all three Europa League qualifiers and started seven of the Gers’ eight first Scottish Premiership matches.
However, Hagi’s form has been inconsistent and his spot in Gerrard’s starting line-up is no longer guaranteed with him starting just one of the last six league matches and being an unused substitute away at Benfica last week.
As a result of Hagi being dropped by Gerrard, he’s also been dropped by the Romania national team and in this international break, is playing for the Under-21s side.
Ex-Chelsea striker Mutu, who is in charge of Romania’s Under-21s, has revealed Hagi’s loss of confidence but has backed the Ibrox ace to get back to his best after this international break.
“Ianis’ confidence has been affected and he has not been starting so much for Rangers in the past few weeks either,” Mutu said, as quoted by the Daily Record.
“I will speak to him and I am sure playing for the 21s again will give his confidence a big boost.
“I know exactly what Ianis is capable of and for me to have him in my squad is a good thing. He will be able to help the rest of the players enormously.
“With lanis, I’ve known him from a young age and he is the perfect professional.
“If he plays well against Denmark, both the national team and Rangers will benefit from it.
“For sure he will be 100 per cent ready and motivated to play for us.”
Hagi is someone who has blown hot and cold for Rangers this season but he has still managed to score one goal and supply eight assists in 16 appearances across all competitions.
When Hagi is at his best, he can blow opponents away but when he’s not at that level he picks the wrong passes, loses the ball often and tends to frustrate supporters.
Speaking in September, Ally McCoist admitted on Sky Sports that Hagi is “half a yard short of being top-class“.
We agree with that but Hagi cannot let the criticism get him down because more often than not, he plays brilliantly.
It just seems to be one extreme or the other with the Romania international and with Rangers being in the form they’re in, Gerrard needs consistency.
In other Rangers news, Jamie Carragher has responded to what Ally McCoist has recently revealed about the Gers.