Rangers have benefitted from his impressive run of form in recent weeks
Ianis Hagi is currently enjoying his best run of form since joining Rangers on a permanent basis.
The Romanian made an instant impression during his loan spell last season, but failed to replicate those performances on a consistent basis in the first half of this campaign after completing his move from Genk.
In recent weeks, however, the 22-year-old has come to life.
A key player in both legs of the 9-5 aggregate win over Royal Antwerp in the Europa League, Hagi has also contributed a total of five goals and nine assists in 26 Premiership matches for Steven Gerrard’s side this season.
Ianis Zicu, who won 12 caps in a similar position to Hagi for the Romanian national team, believes the Rangers star is one of the world’s top 10 players in his age bracket.
The Farul Constanța boss spoke about having been compared with Ianis’ legendary father Gheorghe, who played 124 times for Romania during a career that took in spells at the likes of Barcelona, Galatasaray and Real Madrid.
Speaking to Romanian outlet Gazeta Sporturilor, he said: “Hagi’s name is definitely a burden, and it put a strain on me too.
“Because when I was young a lot of people compared me to Gica, and it affected me negatively because I thought I was better than I was at that level.
“In my opinion we need to judge Ianis strictly on the qualities he has.
“He has some really high level qualities in terms of his vision, how he strikes the ball and how he handles situations on the pitch.
“There’s no point expecting Ianis to dribble past three or four players and go straight to the goal, or to run with it at full pace.
“He can’t do those things, but in terms of what he can do I think he’s in the top 10 players in the world in his age category.
“By which I mean how he hits the ball, how he passes, how he thinks about the game.”
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