When he scored the goal which secured his nation a place in the pot for this summer’s European Championships, Rangers’ £3 million may have felt as if he had also guaranteed a seat on the plane to Germany.
If so, the comments made by the head coach of his national team this week – to quote Edi Iordanescu – should set ‘alarm bells’ ringingfor a player who has started only six league games all season, and could yet pay with his place not only in the starting XI but perhaps in the squad as a whole.
This is certainly not the situation Ianis Hagi envisaged when he left Rangers for a loan spell at Deportivo Alaves in the hope of more regular game time in Spain.
“It’s a challenge for me,” sighs a concerned Iordanescu, speaking to Antena Sport. “It’s an alarm signal for all of us!”
Rangers loanee sees his Euro 2024 place cast into doubt
Iordanescu has included Hagi in his XI during only four of Romania’s last eight games, even if the son of national legend Gheorghe Hagi did fire home the fizzing effort against Israel which secured his country’s qualification back in November.
A lack of action at club level, however, threatens to leave the former Genk playmaker somewhat undercooked ahead of a tournament in which the sharpness of several key players could be the difference between and early exit and a knockout stage run.
Romania’s first-choice goalkeeper Horatiu Moldovan is also at risk, having not played a minute since joining Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in January.
Euro 2024 is only three months away now
“(Hagi and Morutan) have to make efforts to assert themselves,” Iordanescu adds. “It’s a challenge for them to give everything, so that in these few days left until the tournament, they try to get as many minutes played as possible and impose themselves.
“Now, talking about a final squad is premature. We’ll draw the line at the end and make the most pragmatic and practical decisions. I cannot think with the soul, only with the mind.
“We have to have 23 (players). We have to be as covered as possible for the final tournament.”
Hagi, like Moldovan, surely has a spot in Iordanescu’s final 23-man roster nailed down. But, despite being the man to book Romania’s place at the European Championships, that will count for little come the summer if he arrives in Germany half-fit and as sharp as a blunt butterknife.
