Rangers players & board pressured Clement as Hagi makes key sacrifice to return - report

Ianis Hagi has agreed to give up the contract clause that entitled him to improved pay in order to return to the Rangers first team, the Daily Record reports.

According to the paper’s website on 1 October, after the Romanian was reintroduced to training with the senior squad, part of an agreement to break the stand-off that saw him left in the B Team is for the 25-year-old to forego the pay rise he was entitled to after a certain amount of games.

The Record reported on 13 August he was in line for a £6,000-a-week increase from the trigger which was central to him being frozen out of the first-team picture under Philippe Clement.

But after the Belgian agreed to bring him back in it has emerged that he was pressured to do so by senior players and board members.

Influential members of the dressing room had backed Hagi and reportedly went to senior figures at Ibrox for support to change the manager’s mind, and it has now worked.

Ianis Hagi vs Rangers mess resolved at Ibrox

It is difficult to pin down who was ultimately responsible for the bizarre situation over the past few months, but the headline news that it has been resolved is good for the Light Blues.

If it was entirely at Clement’s direction that the 41-cap international was dumped in the reserves despite a decent showing at Euro 2024 and a lack of alternative options it surely calls the Belgian’s judgment into question.

The manager saw no reason not to hand Scott Wright multiple starts earlier this season despite Hagi surely being a better player, and the Scot then being sold to Birmingham City.

Hagi has never played for Clement as he was on loan at Alaves when Michael Beale was sacked last term so it seems far too convenient for him not to even look at Hagi, who sits on 99 Gers appearances, during preseason without influence from elsewhere.

While Clement had publicly remained steadfast that Hagi had no route back in [Daily Mail, 31 August] he then admitted on 13 September that it was not entirely his decision, as his resolve seemingly slipped.

But even if there was pressure to keep the former Genk player out for financial reasons it is very strange for it to cause a player who could genuinely help on the pitch to be completely banished from the senior set up.

Rangers have surely wasted more money on less important players in recent seasons, and if the entire situation was just a way to strong-arm Hagi into sacrificing a clause in his contract then questions have to be asked why he was given it in the first place and what freedom Clement has to manage his squad.

Hagi, having seemingly rejected exit routes [Sky Sports, 26 August], prioritised fighting for his place at Ibrox [Football Scotland, 19 August], indicated a willingness to compromise [Instagram, 27 August], and now done so, has come out of this looking pretty good and if he can prove an asset on the pitch will look even better.

But for the manager and those above him, who John Gilligan has effectively admitted have been hiding behind Clement as the figurehead at Ibrox [Sky Sports Scotland, 24 September], the whole episode doesn’t shine a very positive light.

In other Rangers news, fears have emerged that Celtic might have agreed a secret deal for a top sensation the Light Blues wanted.

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