Steven Gerrard has lavished praise on new Rangers recruit Ianis Hagi, labelling him as 'one of the best talents in Europe at U21 level'.
The 21-year-old, who is the son of Barcelona and Real Madrid great Gheorghe, joined Rangers from Genk yesterday on an initial six-month loan deal.
Gerrard admitted he had been a long time admirer of the Romanian starlet, and was thrilled at securing his signature of the man he rates as one of the best talents on the continent.
He said: "I'm delighted, we are talking about one of the best talents in Europe at U21 level.
"We have to be patient as he has only had one session with the team and to go over our tactics. He will come into our squad but we have to be patient. I'm sure he will do the name on his back very proud.
"We have tracked him for some time and we jumped all over the opportunity as soon as we could."
The Rangers manager also provided the latest transfer update, after it was confirmed Jermain Defoe would be out for over a month after being forced off injured against Ross County.
Gerrard was keen to sign a striker before the window shut, with Burnley's Matej Vydra and Hibs' Florian Kamberi both linked with a move to Ibrox.
He added: "Jermain is a bit low because he doesn’t want to miss football matches.
"He’s started the last four games and scored us three important goals.
"We’re looking at around four weeks, best case scenario. Maybe five.
"Hopefully we can get him back before that but if not it could be the beginning of April after the international break.
"I’m doing my best to make sure there is a striker in this door before the deadline.
"Right now we have one recognised no.9. That’s not enough as we have a lot of fixtures coming up. I need to make sure we have enough firepower."
