In yet more Turkish nonsense filling Rangers’ airways lately, the new one is that Ianis Hagi has sealed a move to Galatasaray.
Now, in fairness, there is no indication whatsoever that Philippe Clement is interested in the Turkish-born Romanian, and he was extremely vague when asked about the former Genk man earlier in the season, so we’re not saying this story is false.
But the problem with it is Hagi is under contract with Rangers till 2026 so he’s not got freedom of contract to discuss any moves with anyone.
Indeed, this scenario is not unlike Rangers’ move for Brazilian left back Jefte, who was blocked by APOEL because… well… he was on loan there, and Fluminese, his parent club, might theoretically consent to the sale to Rangers but they can’t legally sell a player who’s currently on loan elsewhere.
So, this story literally cannot be true regarding Hagi, unless Rangers ripped up his deal without us knowing about it.
And Rangers aren’t going to rip up a deal that has two years to run when the player is a marketable asset they spent £3M on.
No, this is an odd story, and we wonder if it’s based on the date as well.
Yes, April 1st is officially over now, in terms of the fools stuff supposedly being invalid after midday, but that won’t stop a lot of rubbish in the name of fools jokes being spouted.
We don’t think it is an April Fools.
His dad (as always) came out to babble a bit:
“All I know is that Ianis will return to Rangers after his loan at Alaves ends at the end of the season. He is focused only on Alaves at the moment and he is still there until the summer. Then he still has a contract with Rangers. I don’t know anything about a transfer to Galatasaray. I can only tell you what I know.”
Apparently after a recent FCV Farul Constanța match, his team these days, he was more interested talking about his son than the team’s loss, so there you go.
We don’t know what the future holds for Hagi, but while we doubt it’s Rangers, legally speaking he can’t have already moved to Galatasaray.
Well, not that we know of….