Ibrox View: Ianis Hagi is wasted on the right and should be repositioned at Rangers
Rangers ace Ianis Hagi scored Romania’s winner in a 3-2 thriller over North Macedonia on Thursday to score his first international goal.
The 22-year-old was left out of the starting XI but overcame that snub to net the crucial goal within 10 minutes of his second-half introduction to set Tricolorii off to the perfect start in their World Cup Qualification campaign.
Hagi will hope that will be enough to secure him a regular run in the Romania team now but it could also have the dual effect of transforming his Light Blues career.
The reasons for this is the position Hagi took up for the goal in his 14-minute cameo v North Macedonia.
As you can see below he is stood at the back post in oceans of space as the ball is pulled back.
Despite the pass being played slightly behind him Hagi repositions himself, swivels and shoots in one motion.
The first-time finish beat the goalkeeper and ultimately grabbed all three points for Romania as they held out for the last seven minutes.
The reasons why this is so peculiar is due to how little Hagi has operated away from the right side of the pitch.
According to Transfermarkt Hagi has featured as a right-winger in 21 of his 33 Gers appearances this season – his next most played position is attacking midfield with eight outings.
Just three of the 33 have been from the left but he still scored two goals. It’s only a very small sample size but it shows his effectiveness from the other side.
His record as an attacking midfielder is six assists in eight while he has five goals and four assists in 22 from the right (including one appearance as a deeper right-midfielder).
That means he contributes to a goal every 0.4 games from the right while this jumps to 0.75 in the centre. From the left it is 0.66, though the sample size is too small to compare.
His overall career stats (per game) are as follows: 0.65g/a from attacking midfield, 0.42g/a as a left-winger, and 0.34g/a as a right-winger [Transfermarkt].
The stats are ominous and show that Hagi’s attacking output shoots up away from the right.
Rangers tend to play a 4-3-3 formation so there is usually no room for a ‘Number 10’ but it could be something to consider going forward, especially in the Champions League next season. A two-man protective partnership may be required against more elite opposition and his creativity could be key in front of them.
But is from the left where there could be a more substantial opening for him.
Ryan Kent has been superb for Rangers this season despite a mid-season lull in front of goal and he is the number one option in that position.
But Hagi proved for Romania just how big a threat he can be from there and it is something for Steven Gerrard to consider in the future if he decides to rotate or freshen up in that area.
Kent is likely to be a coveted player this summer so if he moves on and a like-for-like signing is not immediately brought in he could do worse than to redeploy Hagi.
Despite their different traits he might just be his ready-made Kent replacement.
In other Rangers news, our view on why Ianis Hagi must not be sold on the cheap this summer.