Ianis Hagi revels in Rangers fight, explains friendly red mist and says don't judge right now

Rangers' Ianis Hagi argues with Olympiakos' Andreas Bouchalakis during a pre-season friendly at Ibrox.

The Romanian international has watched with interest as manager Michael Beale stockpiles attacking reinforcements like a pensioner hoarding tins of soup ahead of winter, a necessary act that will benefit the squad as a whole but one that isn’t necessarily great news for those forwards already at the club.

Hagi, though, is made of sterner stuff. As he continues his own rehabilitation from the severe knee injury that kept him out of action for a year, the 24-year-old eyes up this increased competition for his place and seems to almost revel in it. Anyone trying to take his jersey will have to be willing to put up a fight.

“There is no difference,” he says of the fresh challenge ahead of him. “I have known since the age of seven that I’ve had to fight with everyone and whoever is in front of me, it doesn’t really matter. It’s nothing new. Coming back mid-season, everyone was at a certain level physically and I was basically starting at zero. It was so hard to catch up because there are not too many running sessions and you play a lot of games. There was not really time for me to catch up with the guys, so I had to accept that I couldn’t play as much. But this is a different story right now. I started everything with everyone this time. I had 10 days off because I was with the national team. I came in fully focused, physically, mentally, and in a really good spot so I can’t complain.”

Hagi has improved his prospects of featuring more regularly by showing a willingness and ability to adapt to a deeper role. “When I came to Rangers I could only play in any of the front three positions but I have added this into my game from two seasons ago,” he explained. “Obviously, the injury came so I couldn’t actually play in that (deeper) position too much but my mind was always there. I knew I could play there. I had a few questions in my mind about it but I’ve answered them this pre-season and I’m happy about that, so I have no problem in playing deeper. I like it. I’m more on the ball and I have runners in front of me, so I am happy.”

Hagi also demonstrated another side to his game in the 3-1 defeat to Olympiakos on Wednesday night, the red mist descending as he shoved a defender in the chest after taking umbrage at a bad tackle. “It had nothing to do with my injury,” he explained. “It was just a poor tackle that was unnecessary and I told the guy it was a friendly game and he didn’t have to do that.”

Rangers still look like a work in progress despite the new season now just nine days away but Hagi believes they are on track. “It’s hard to judge anyone at this stage tactically or technically,” he added. “The most important focus was to get everyone fit as soon as possible and go through these games without injuries, so that in the first game of the new season we are ready in all aspects. That’s the main thing.”