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Ianis Hagi opens up on famous father as Rangers star points to Johan Cruyff influence

The youngster has big shoes to fill but still has some advice for Hagi Sr.

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Rangers star Ianis Hagi insists his famous father wouldn't have played a single minute if he'd been his own manager.

The playmaker came through Gheorghe Hagi's academy, and was given his debut by his father aged just 16.

Hagi Sr is considered the greatest player Romania has ever produced, and is nicknamed 'The Maradona of the Carpathians'.

He played for the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Galatasaray - but his son insists Hagi the manager would never have accepted himself as a player.

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The Rangers talent told Telekom: "If Gheorghe Hagi the manager had Gheorghe Hagi the player, he wouldn't play for a minute.

"He just did what he wanted on the pitch.

"He told me that when he met (Johan) Cruyff in Barcelona he told put him on the right and told him: 'you work there, you don't just go wherever you want'.

"He said Barcelona and Cruyff changed his ideas about football.

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"Ok, he'd have played because the talent was there but the discipline wasn't.

"I said to him that if he had a coach - like he is now - who could make him a little more disciplined and encourage him not do the work others could do.

"He'd come deep to the middle of the pitch and spray the ball from left to right, a job that others could do.

"If he was only in the final third - which he did do, but if he was solely there - he'd certainly have been much for dangerous and had many more goals and assists."