Hagi feels Rangers are ready and raring to go
NEW Rangers signing Ianis Hagi is confident the Ibrox club will be in perfect shape for their hectic start to the 2020/21 campaign after being impressed with the condition of his team mates in training this week.
Hagi, who impressed on loan before football was suspended back in March due to the Covid-19 outbreak and completed a £3m move from Belgian club Genk last month, returned for pre-season on Monday.
UEFA this week announced that Steven Gerrard’s men will play the second leg of their Europa League last-16 tie against Bayer Leverkusen in Germany just days after the Premiership kicks off in August.
But the attacking midfielder, who has been following a fitness programme given to him by Auchenhowie sports science staff in his native Romania during lockdown, is confident Rangers will be ready.
Speaking to Rangers TV, Hagi said: “Obviously I, and I think everybody, cannot wait until the new season begins, but there are seven weeks and we need to take it step by step until we get fit.
“We had two and a half months since we last trained, but it will be difficult at the beginning, but as I saw everyone has come back fit and prepared, and the energy and the positive energy is here every single day so step by step, we will get fit 100 per cent when the season starts.
“We are professional football players, so we can adapt really fast – as long as we have the ball at our feet everything will be fine. So we just have to adapt. We respect all the rules that we have and then we just have to concentrate on our game.
“It’s amazing having the medical staff here, especially the doc’ [Mark Waller] as he has great experience, and not only now, but in the two-anda-half months when we stayed at home, they always took care of us.”