Rangers fans are torn on what to do with Ianis Hagi | OneFootball

So the cat is well and truly out of the bag, and Rangers fans are feverishly divided over Ianis Hagi and whether or not ‘to just pay him the extra £10K’ or roundabouts.

The topic of opinion is split between two factors – whether he’s worth it, and the lack of options Rangers currently have in the playmaker slot.

Let’s look at Hagi’s stats for Rangers since joining us on loan and then permanent in 2020:

16 goals and 21 assists in 99 appearances.

If we compare that with the winger Rangers fans, in the end, couldn’t drive out of Ibrox fast enough in Ryan Kent:

33 goals, 56 assists in 218 appearances.

So roughly 35 goals and assists for Hagi in 100 (1 in 3), 90 for Kent in a fraction over double that, just under 1 in 2.

It’s pretty abundantly clear that Hagi doesn’t even match Kent’s return, which in itself was not spectacular, but decent.

Kent was on circa the same wage as Hagi, about £18Kpw to £22Kpw. Fans resented the ex-Liverpool man in the end, for being so poor, apparently, and yet those same fans are, in places, exalting the return of Hagi at what would be a 33% wage increase for about 20% less performance overall than Kent?

Now we’re not saying all fans who chased Kent away are equally demanding Rangers spend more on Hagi and get him playing. We’re not going to generalise that aggressively.

But there’s clearly the case here of ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ and players who aren’t playing become world-beaters over the ‘losers’ the manager picks.

So let’s suppose we do activate the clause – we do select him for another match and the wage rises to the £30,000 region – we are now left with a massively-high earner to add to the number we already have, but safe in the knowledge it’s only for one season.

Tom Lawrence absolutely isn’t doing it (yet) and we aren’t persuaded he has it in him after over two years to (consistently) deliver for Rangers at any level, but he’s the only option.

Alex Lowry just doesn’t have the mental strength to make it, Todd Cantwell wants to leave, and Kieran Dowell is nowhere near good enough.

None of Rangers’ options are great, truth be told.

This opens the door a little for Hagi – he’s been far from impressive for Rangers, bright in spells but no more, and he’s not been great for any other club.

There’s a reason his stock in the world of football just isn’t that good.

But then the old heart-based reasoning of ‘well he just needs to be in the right place, and that’s clearly Rangers’ kicks in, without any rationale aside emotion and hope.

Hagi’s career has gone horribly off track, and the stalemate at Ibrox between he and the board isn’t ideal.

Either the club has to pay him off entirely if no transfer materalises, or swallow the pride and just pay the man the extra a week and get him involved in matches.

Either way, it’s not an ideal situation. And we ‘thank’ Ross Wilson hugely for this.