Modern midfielders have to have speed, in terms of thought and how they move the ball, and in Nicolas Raskin, Rangers have the perfect example.
The 22-year old arrived in January for a fee believed to be in the £1.75m mark and hasn’t looked back since.
Heart and Hand’s David Edgar going as far as to say that Nicolas Raskin should be enjoyed as much as possible because he won’t be at Rangers long.
“We should enjoy him while he’s here because if he keeps developing at the rate he is he’ll be in a top 5 league.”
Friendlies are used predominantly to get minutes into legs and not much can be read into them, however, against Newcastle United there were some obvious points to note.
Nicolas Raskin set for big future after impressive Rangers start
When Nicolas Raskin came on in the second half, he instantly breathed new life into a stale Rangers midfield.
Kieran Dowell had tried to get us up the park and looked like our best player in the first period but Raskin picked up the pace in the second.
Playing aggressive passes to break Newcastle’s or by taking matters into his own hands by driving forwards, Rangers were instantly able to get higher up the park.
The Belgium Under-21 international has dreams to match Edgar’s claim with hopes of one day moving to Chelsea.
“My ultimate dream is to play in the Premier League with Chelsea. Playing in Scotland struck me as a good intermediate step.
“But Rangers are still a big name in British football. Before they came in for me, I had approaches from Club Brugge and Genk.
“But I think it would be a mistake for me to play for another club in Belgium, as Standard will always be the club I love most.
“Other clubs were interested in me as well, but Rangers’ interest was the strongest.”
On top of this, statistics for last season provided by @DataMB show who he can be compared to on the biggest stage, with the image below showing Raskin on the right.
Jude Bellingham has just moved to Real Madrid for £115m and Nicolas Raskin more than matches him both in and out of possession.
If you are designing a modern midfielder, the former Borussia Dortmund star with his 6ft 2inch tall frame wouldn’t be far away.
Nicolas Raskin might not be quite as tall as the Madrista, however, neither was former Rangers pitbull Gennaro Gattuso, and he did alright for himself after leaving Ibrox.
Gattuso, Mikael Arteta, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Barry Ferguson, Claudio Reyna and Tugay Kerimoglu all moved on to top five leagues after Rangers and they aren’t alone.
There is no reason why Nicolas Raskin can’t be next and why he can’t break Calvin Bassey’s record transfer fee.
Enjoy him whilst he’s here.
