STEVEN GERRARD reckons Ianis Hagi's obsession with improvement will help him take his game to the next level for Rangers this season.

The Romanian earned rave reviews for his performance against Livingston on Wednesday night as he inspired the champions to a victory that earned a place in the League Cup semi-finals.

Hagi scored in the wins over Livingston and Dunfermline in the opening weeks of the campaign and has recently returned to Gerrard's squad following a positive Covid test during the last international break.

Now Gerrard is confident there is plenty more to come from the playmaker as he dedicates himself to his fitness and football and strives to be the best that he can be for Rangers.

Gerrard said: "Listen, we knew the talent that we were buying and knew the talent that Ianis had. We knew there were areas of his game he could grow and improve.

"The one thing you are dealing with here is a player who is obsessed to get better, whether that be off the pitch in the gymnasium, he is to the millimetre in terms of his nutrition and his diet and his professionalism.

"And he is someone that stays behind after every single session trying to improve parts of his game. He is an absolute pleasure to work with.

"I think he has got real good people around him away from here as well who are helping support him in the game in terms of representation, in terms of his dad, which everyone knows about.

"He has had a bit of a disrupted season. He took a whack in the first league game against Livingston and he was in great form then.

"But he has looked after himself since he has been injured and slowly he has got back to where we need him to be, which is that creative tool in the final third.

"We have been lacking that a little bit in certain games so to see him come on and have such a quick impact bodes well for the up and coming games."