Ianis Hagi desperate for triumphant Istanbul return with Rangers as he delivers honest verdict on his Ibrox future
The midfielder has won 45 caps for Romania but was born in the Turkish capital
Ianis Hagi admits going back to the city of his birth has made him even more determined to help Rangers beat Fenerbahce, writes Scott McDermott from Istanbul.
The Ibrox midfielder grew up in Istanbul while his father Gheorghe played for Galatasaray. Hagi Snr spent five years there and finished his playing career in the Turkish capital after winning four league titles, two Turkish Cups and the UEFA Cup. He’s a God-like figure to Galatasaray fans and his son has fond memories of his Istanbul childhood.
On Thursday, he’ll be back in a Rangers jersey for their Europa League tie - desperate to get one over on their rivals. And as he prepared to take on Jose Mourinho’s side in the last-16, he revealed his dad has already given him pointers on how Gers can get a positive result Hagi said: “It’s definitely special to come back here and play in the town where I was born.
“We have so many good memories of here as a family so it’s special and I’m going to enjoy it on Thursday night. The extra motivation for me is just to represent Rangers in the best way possible here. Signing for this huge club made me a better man and a better player.
“The only thing I owe to the club is to give my best performances on a daily basis, in training and game days. Every player can have an off-day like anyone out there. But one thing I’ve always done for this club is give every bit of energy I have and it won’t be any different tomorrow.
“I talk to my dad before and after every game so he knows how important European nights are and how tough it is to get a result away from home. We’ve talked about the game. He knows the Turkish leagues and Turkish teams really well so I’ll definitely get some advice from him. But it’s just special to play in a place like Istanbul, it means so much to my family and it gives me extra motivation to play well on Thursday night.”
Hagi’s future is up in the air as he’s set to be a free agent in the summer. Rangers have a one-year option to extend his stay but won’t trigger that on the 26-year-old current terms. Reports in Turkey recently suggested he’s turned down a new offer from the club.
But Hagi is adamant that he isn’t thinking about contracts while he tries to get Rangers out of a form rut. He said: “I don’t think it’s the right moment to talk about my future. My full focus right now is on Rangers and the game on Thursday.
“I’ve waited for a year to get back on the European stage so I’m too excited for the game to think about the future. It doesn’t make sense because football changes really quickly.
“The club and my agents have to talk about that. For me right now - and it’s an honest answer - I’m not really thinking about the future. It’s just about what I can do in this game, then it's the next game and so on.”
Rangers only have the Europa League to play for after crashing out of the Scottish Cup and falling too far behind in the Premiership. Barry Ferguson is interim gaffer after Philippe Clement’s sacking and Hagi is eager to help the team get back on track.
He said: “Obviously the last couple of weeks haven’t been good enough for Rangers’ standard, we can all agree on that. But a lot of work has gone on behind the scenes trying to fix everything and I think we’re ready for this game.
“I knew a lot about the manager, he was captain of this huge club at such an early age. He’s always been a standards-setter. Him as a player describes him as a manager as well. He always demands the best of you, whether you’re on the pitch for 10 mins or in a meeting room for 10 minutes.
“He’s trying to drive standards and fix what we’re not doing well. We want to make them happy because we know how much this club means to them.”