According to the Daily Record, Ianis Hagi has consented to renounce his claim to increased compensation under his contract in order to rejoin the Rangers first team.
The Romanian was back in the main squad, and as part of a deal to end the standoff that had kept him in the B Team, the paper’s website on October 1st reported that the 25-year-old would forgo the wage increase he was due after a set number of games.
On August 13, The Record revealed that he was scheduled to receive a weekly rise of £6,000 from the trigger, which was a major factor in keeping him out of Philippe Clement’s first team.
However, it has since surfaced that senior players and board members put pressure on the Belgian to allow him to return.
It has now succeeded because prominent members of the dressing room, who had backed Hagi, apparently sought backing from senior figures at Ibrox to persuade the manager to reverse his mind.
Rangers vs. Ianis Hagi controversy settled at Ibrox
The headline news that the unusual issue of the previous few months has been addressed is excellent news for the Light Blues, even though it is hard to determine who was ultimately to blame.
The Belgian’s judgement is undoubtedly called into question if the 41-cap international was placed in the reserves only at Clement’s instigation, despite his respectable performance at Euro 2024 and a dearth of other choices.
Despite the fact that Hagi is undoubtedly a better player and that Scott Wright was later moved to Birmingham City, the manager found no reason not to give the Scot several starts earlier in the season.
Hagi, who has 99 appearances for the Gers, has never played for Clement because he was on loan at Alaves when Michael Beale was fired last season. Therefore, it appears far too comfortable for him to ignore Hagi during preseason without outside interference.
Despite publicly maintaining that Hagi had no way back [Daily Mail, August 31], Clement later acknowledged on September 13 that it was not totally his decision, since his commitment seemed to waver.
However, it is highly unusual for a player who might actually contribute on the pitch to be excluded from the senior squad, even if there was pressure to keep the former Genk player out for financial reasons.
Rangers have undoubtedly squandered more cash on less valuable players in recent seasons. If the whole thing was merely an attempt to coerce Hagi into forgoing a clause in his contract, then it is unclear why Clement was given the opportunity to manage his team in the first place and what discretion he had.
Hagi has emerged from this looking pretty good, and if he can prove to be an asset on the pitch, he will look even better. Hagi seemed to have 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.
However, the entire event casts a poor light on the manager and others in higher positions, who John Gilligan has effectively conceded have been hiding behind Clement as the Ibrox figurehead [Sky Sports Scotland, 24 September].
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