The 21 year-old Romanian international has now pledged his long-term future to the club, joining permanently from Genk at the end of last month with the Light Blues having negotiated their option to buy.
He’s absolutely thrilled to be staying, and he outlined his reasons for choosing Rangers as his next club to RangersTV this week.
“I’m really happy,” he began. “Everything – the fans, the history of the club, the stadium and the people who work for Rangers are all amazing and they always put that work in every single day and it is just a really nice environment and I am really happy that I am here.
With other potential options on the table, he was quizzed why, specifically, he chose Ibrox, and he continued: “Everything! Especially the atmosphere – not only at the home games but also the away games and seeing the fans traveling all over the world with you.
“It’s amazing and just the people that work for Rangers – the medical staff, the coaching staff and everybody at the training ground at at Ibrox, they just make you feel really good and it just feels like home.
“The love that they [the fans] have shown me these past few months has been amazing, especially after the deal was made and everything was over.
In addition to Hagi’s signature, Gers have also secured the serviced of Calvin Bassey from Leicester City for the new season.
He’ll join up with his new teammates in the coming weeks, and the club’s early activity in the transfer market has pleased Hagi greatly.
He explained: “It’s a positive sign that the club, even in these difficult moments, they react and it gives us, not only the players but everyone who loves Rangers, a positive sign that we are back for the new season and we want to compete for everything.
Hagi, along with his teammates, reported back at the Rangers Training Centre for pre-season this week in terrific condition.
For him, keeping in tip-top shape has been pretty straightforward, and he’s very confident of being in prime match condition come the season starting on August 1.
“It was easy!” he explained. “I just had to do what I love, right? So running, and I am lucky that my family has a house back in Romania that has a pretty big garden, so I could also play some football.
“I touched the ball and felt the ball in all those weeks, so it wasn’t that difficult because as I said, I was just doing what I loved so that was easy for me.
“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.”
Pre-season, of course, looks a little different this year, with social distancing and the players having to work in small groups for this first week.
Hagi hasn’t, however, found that to be an issue, and he continued: “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.
Indeed, Rangers’ response to Covid-19 has been shaped largely by the club’s class-leading Dr Mark Waller, with Hagi so impressed with how he has operated in the last few months.
He said: “It’s amazing having the medical staff here, especially the ‘doc’ as he has great experience, and not only now, but in the two-and-a-half months when we stayed at home, they always took care of us and whenever we needed something they were always there and they updated us whenever something new happened.
“So we are really happy that we have such an amazing medical staff and I am looking forward to working with them again.”