'He has to leave' - Long-time manager tells Hagi he must make permanent Rangers transfer exit

Ianis Hagi has to leave Rangers on a permanent transfer despite making a return to the first team set up, says Dumitru Dumitriu.

The Romanian long-time former manager told Golazo in his home country on 24 October that the Gers ace needs, and deserves, to move on having lost his way at Ibrox since suffering a serious injury in January 2022.

After a loan at Alaves last season he was frozen out of Philippe Clement’s squad into the B Team through the summer and first two months of the season, finally making a first appearance for the Belgian in the 2-0 win over St. Johnstone on 6 October after a resolution was found to the stand-off.

Dumitriu said: “I think he will get what he deserves in the end. He’s a good player, a footballer who can play for several teams in Europe, so he doesn’t have to stay there. My belief is that he has to leave, but not on loan. To go for good, to be bought and used.

“When a club buys you, it shows that they trust you. And Ianis needs that. He is a talented player who gives himself, passes well with both feet, shoots hard. He has many qualities, he is a top footballer. But he had this bad luck with the injury. Now let’s not think that they should quit. No way.”

Philippe Clement had frozen Ianis Hagi out of Rangers squad

It remains to be seen what sort of standing Hagi has at Ibrox for the rest of the campaign as he was sent off and suspended in his first game back and hasn’t featured since.

An assist for Vaclav Cerny in that game and a warm reception from Clement on the touchline suggested there is no resentment from the Belgian.

But the manager’s pronouncements on the whole saga have contradicted each other before, and from the outside looking in Hagi’s treatment by the club looks poor.

In the circumstances it is somewhat surprising that the Romania international was so intent on pushing his way back in, given he was being stonewalled for so long and obliged to turn out for the reserves.

Having previously insisted that there was no way back for the 25-year-old [Daily Mail, 31 August] Clement eventually wavered and suggested the decision hadn’t been entirely his own, before talking up the winger re-entering the fold as like a new signing [Sky Sports, 2 October].

Clearly, those statements don’t all tie up so now that the contract issue appears to be sorted, after Hagi sacrificed a wage-increase clause [Daily Record, 1 October], much will depend on whether it was the manager or the board who were primarily behind his exile.

If it was the latter and Clement is happy to use him then there is no obvious reason why the attacker can’t re-establish himself, but if the manager isn’t ultimately a fan then a departure looks inevitable eventually.

An exit in the summer has already been tipped as likely [PLZ Soccer, 7 October] with the rest of the season seen as putting him in the shop window.

But so little has made sense about Hagi’s past few months at Rangers it is difficult to predict how the next few will go.

In other Rangers news, David Tanner was shocked to see what was happening outside Ibrox which rarely ever happens at this club.

For more Rangers news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.

The post 'He has to leave' - Long-time manager tells Hagi he must make permanent Rangers transfer exit appeared first on Ibrox News.