Ianis Hagi arrived at Rangers with huge expectations. After all, his dad was legendary in world football and naturally, Ianis has that weight on his shoulders.

Originally on a six-month deal, it seemed like the perfect marriage because Rangers were badly needing a difference-maker on the park.

A player who can deliver a moment. A player who can break the lines and a player who can make that pass - the vision with absolute precision that creates the perfect goal opportunity.

The truth is Rangers haven’t had a player like Ianis Hagi for a long, long time and when he is gone I think we will genuinely then realise what we've had. When he is missing from selection it is abundantly clear.

There is a reason why he has been linked to the top leagues in the world, such as Serie A and La Liga, with reported interest from Lazio and Sevilla. Those figures being discussed, ranging from £13-15 million are small in terms of outlay for those sides, but for Rangers would represent a massive return on the £3m paid in the Summer of 2020 when Ianis joined permanently.

Perhaps more importantly, it would represent the first major transfer profit in the club’s widely self discussed ‘player trading’ model. It would also represent the biggest player sale in our History, eclipsing Alan Hutton’s £9m move to Tottenham quite considerably.

So should Rangers cash in and sell Ianis Hagi? The answer is that anyone offering £15m plus for any player in our country must be fiercely considered.

But what would we be losing?

Before the season started, Ianis had played 56 times for Rangers in his 18 months at the club. He has 25 goal involvements, which includes 10 goals and 15 assists. Ianis has said on social media it’s more as he is not credited with assists at home to Motherwell at Christmas for example.

However, from his goals, the most significant contribution would be against Braga in the Europa League, the season before last, when he cut in from the right and drove a left-foot shot in off the post to spark one of Rangers finest European comebacks. His deflected free-kick sealed victory but even though his goals were the highlight it was a moment in the return leg that doesn’t get enough praise.

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With the scores level and game on a knife-edge, Ianis clipped a beautiful chipped pass through to Ryan Kent who would score the decisive goal in a 1-0 victory. It was vintage Ianis Hagi - showing vision, touch, precision and execution.

It is those moments that he brings to the table, a similar through pass to Scott Arfield in a 1-0 home victory over Livingston is also memorable in 19/20, months before Covid-19 struck the season short.

But the truth is we had seen enough to know the quality.

Last season Ianis has been magnificent and even in games where he hasn’t been breathtaking, he has still provided moments and assists. Just look at Jermain Defoe’s goal against Celtic and it was Ianis' one-touch, perfectly times pass that gave Jermain the platform to score. Subtle and somewhat unnoticed, but equally as important. Or his late dash into the box to score a third away to Livingston - he’s different but so important, different runs, different vision and that’s what makes him unique to this side.

His goals last season have helped Rangers romp to a historic title and individual brilliance has heavily featured. St Johnstone at home with a superb solo strike when he drifted in from the right to fire in on his left foot. A crucial strike on Boxing day at home to Hibernian amongst other moments he has come up big.

But Ianis’ biggest asset is his ability to contribute even when not on top of his game or when being ‘quiet’. Some of the work he does goes unnoticed - his lovely one-two assist with Ryan Kent against Dundee Utd when the Englishman scored the opener in a 4-0 win or his lovely second assist when he broke the lines at home to St Johnstone before feeding Borna Barisic who crossed for Kent to fire in a second.

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The truth is Ianis Hagi’s contribution to Rangers is invaluable and he has that something special that every top player has, the ability to create and score goals.

This season is only a handful of games old and hasn’t exactly gone swimmingly well, but on matchday one he popped up with the first league goal of the season as he expertly switched feet to riffle home again Livingston. But it was his movement, off the frontline, which really caught attention. Dropping deep pulls defenders out which creates so much space. Ianis went off injured and we subsequently lost our way and became very rigid. Suddenly we looked very predictable and that movement disappeared, not only in that game but those that followed.

That tackle cost us Ianis and it is no surprise we lost the next three with him missing from the start in each. We miss him and just because he isn’t taking on six players at a time, what he does perhaps goes unnoticed but there is no doubting just how vital he is.

He helped to drag Dunfermline’s backline all over the place on Friday and scored a lovely header after great work from Calvin Bassey. That wasn’t the moment though. For Scott Wright’s goal, Ianis dropped deep to spin and send a lovely through ball right into the heart of Dunfermline’s backline. A perfect example of everything Ianis Hagi brings, a perfect example of what we miss when he’s not there.

He’s a moments player, but moments win matches and without Ianis Hagi, Rangers might not be where they are now. Without Ianis Hagi Rangers certainly aren’t as unpredictable or fluent and perhaps it’s only now beginning to become evident.

Ianis won’t take on five players with lightning speed. He will drop into space, create a yard, drag backlines out and produce killer passes, he will arrive late in the box and he does have the ability to shoot from range, in fact, Ianis has all the attributes we cry out for when he isn’t there.

Ianis Hagi is vital to this team. Understated in his work, perhaps even undervalued. He shouldn’t be, however.

The big question is whether Rangers will value that at the amounts mentioned or higher - but the truth is he’s absolutely worth every penny.

The other truth is at this moment he is more than invaluable.