Ianis Hagi's Rangers wage windfall revealed as reason for ballboy shirt giveaway gesture becomes clear
Another appearance for the 25-year-old would trigger a wage rise which Record Sport can reveal is in the region of £6000 a week.
Ianis Hagi’s situation at Rangers has been cloudy this summer but is becoming a bit clearer - as are some of his words and actions from 12 months ago.
The 25-year-old Romanian was touted as someone who could possibly have a future at Ibrox under Philippe Clement while he was starring for his country at Euro 2024 in Germany and given the fact he could have been like a new signing for Philippe Clement who hadn’t had the chance to work with him given he was on loan at Alaves last season when the Belgian arrived.
So, given Clement is on the lookout for quality, it was perhaps surprising when he revealed Hagi wouldn’t have any part to play under him. Clement said: “Is he part of my plans? No, we had clear talks before the pre-season with his agents about that. We need to look, like I said, at a lot of things in the club about wages, how many you can have in a position with the budget we have and to get the budget to get transfers.”
Clement’s reference to the wages made more sense when it emerged that if Hagi - just one game away from becoming a Rangers centurion as he sits on 99 games - hits a certain number of appearances for the Light Blues then it will trigger a wage hike on the contract extension he signed at Ibrox shortly after Michael Beale was appointed in December 2022. Record Sport can now reveal that the figure his weekly pay packet would rise by is around £6000, meaning it would cost the club around £600,000 if he remained in Glasgow for the remainder of the two years has deal has to run.
Clement might feel that the rise on top of the wage he’s already picking up at Rangers is money that could be better spent elsewhere. Rangers fans appear split with some calling for his return after recent impressive displays, albeit for the B team, which included a hat-trick against Derby County at the club’s Training Centre at the weekend. And if - and it’s still a big IF - he was able to contribute to Rangers reaching the Champions League group stage then any rise would pay for itself with a £40million jackpot up for grabs.
News of the clause in his deal has now made a gesture by Hagi - who has scored 16 goals and provided 21 assists since signing from Genk, initially on loan - before he left at the start of last season make more sense.
His final appearance before going on loan to Spain came against Morton in the Scottish League Cup. He came on as a substitute just before the hour mark of the 2-1 win over the Greenock side. Hagi then handed his shirt to a ballboy and he possibly knew then that it was to be his first team farewell given the clause was proving to be an issue to either the club hierarch or the manager.
He certainly sounded frustrated after that game at Beale’s decision to allow him to leave on loan, saying: “I'm obviously disappointed by the situation but I respect the gaffer's decisions. That doesn't mean I agree with them but I respect them – he's the manager of this club. I'm a simple guy, I just love football. I train 100 per cent on a daily basis, I come back from a one-year injury, they know who I am and they know my history at this football club, what I've done. I just want to play. I've won at this football club individual and collective trophies. I just love to play football. That's what I've done since I started walking as a kid. I'm just happy to be on the pitch and just enjoy my football. This is who I am, I am a simple guy.”
Hagi, linked with Fiorentina among others, reportedly now wants to stay at Rangers and he took to Instagram at the weekend, posting a picture from the match against the Rams, with the caption: "Home is good."