With each passing week of football being suspended the legend of Iainis Hagi is growing.
In January Genk were happy to get the midfielder off their wage bill for a few months, when no-one in any major league showed interest he was shipped off to Scotland where the Ibrox PR machine has been in top form.
Dad Gheorghe could be called on for some reassuring comments about the brilliance of his son who had flopped at Fiorentina three years earlier.
Soon after football was suspended reports from Romania emerged that Manchester City and Spurs were ‘keeping tabs’ on the midfielder- after half a dozen games for a club that lost to Kilmarnock, Hamilton and Hearts while dropping points to Aberdeen and St Johnstone.
Next up we were informed, from Romania, that Real Madrid had joined the race for Hagi. Although he was only on loan at Ibrox a £4.5m fee would make the deal permanent ahead of a £10m move to Real!
With absolutely no genuine interest in the Genk midfielder we are being told, from Romania by Marian Aliuta that the Ibrox loanee is a Balon d’Or winner in the making.
Aliuta seems to be the Romanian equivalent of Lee McCulloch with The Sun reporting:
He (Aliuta) remains convinced Hagi junior has the potential to be one of the best players on the planet eventually.
“Neither Messi nor Ronaldo hit the ball so perfectly with both feet when they were Ianis’ age. That’s his big advantage. His technical skill with both feet is incredible. Although he’s not the quickest, his positional sense is excellent too.
“He’s a really smart player, but he must be allowed to grow and improve at his own rate without too much pressure being put on him. Everyone will obviously compare him to Gheorghe because he has this famous name on his back. But that won’t make him a success on its own.
“He knows he can’t take the name for granted. The more matches he plays and the more experience he gets, the better he will be for it. There’s no question he will grow enormously and have a great career.”
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Hagi’s loan deal expires at the end of May, it’s highly unlikely that he will ever again line up alongside Ryan Kent and Scot Arfield.
