'Outrageous Reality' - Journo scolds Rangers ace who gets preferential treatment on int'l duty

Rangers star Ianis Hagi is given preferential treatment as a consistent inclusion for Romania, according to Amir Kiarash.

The reporter, who covers Romania for Adevarul [15 October], flippantly described the slogan of the national team as “no match without Ianis Hagi on the pitch”, implying he is constantly picked due to his famous footballing father Gheorghe despite months cast aside from the Gers squad.

Hagi recently returned to the Ibrox fold to make his 100th club appearance following a long stand-off over a contract clause, but was shown a straight red card against St Johnstone.

The 25-year-old appeared as a substitute in each of Romania’s recent Nations League victories over Cyprus [12 October] and Lithuania [15 October].

Kiarash scolded Hagi, claiming: “The controversy of calling up an uncapped player to the club team and then sending him on the pitch, match after match, at the expense of players who are racking up appearances and goals for their squads, denotes an outrageous reality.

“Namely the fact that Romania has ‘succeeded’ in promoting nepotism, a ‘disease’ of the society in which we live, and in the national football team!

“In the recent history of the national team, there has never been a footballer, without minutes at the club for months, who was called to absolutely all the actions of the first representative team!”

Rangers ace Ianis Hagi blasted as case of Romanian ‘nepotism’

While it goes without saying that Hagi’s father Gheorghe is one of Romania’s most iconic footballing sons, it is a brazen claim to outrightly slam the nepotism label down.

Having said that, Hagi played in all four matches at Euro 2024, starting two, off the back of a paltry loan at Alaves in Spain as he fell by the wayside under Philippe Clement.

With Hagi’s representatives and Rangers now seemingly emerging from the other side of his crazy contract clause stand-off – in which a huge hike in wages would have been triggered with a century of Gers appearances – it will be interesting to see how often he appears in the team.

It is still unclear whether or not Clement rates him. His red card against St Johnstone was a case of one step forward and two steps back, and the hope is that an evidently gifted footballer can still contribute with a solid impact this season.

As for his appearances for Romania, he has not started any of the four Nations League matches the country have played since the Euros.

This statistic diminishes Kiarash’s argument slightly, although the inclusion in the overall squad while he was turning out for Rangers’ B team cannot be disputed.

In other Rangers news, Scottish media reacts to John Souttar up against Cristiano Ronaldo.

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