Much has been made of Rangers’ inability to recruit talented players and develop them for a profit over the last few years, but in Nicolas Raskin, they could have a gem.
As the best performer for either side in the last three Old Firm derbies, the midfield dynamo is finally fulfilling his potential after signing from Standard Liege in 2023 for £1.75m.
It isn’t in the SPFL where Raskin will be judged with Belgium manager Rudi Garcia seeing enough of the Rangers No.43 in Europe to be tempted into calling him into the senior squad.
A man of the match performance against Ukraine on his full debut cemented his place in the squad with Garcia once again singing his praises.
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Belgium boss loves Rangers star Nicolas Raskin
Discussing his midfield options on Champions League punditry duty for Pickx Sports, there was notable absentee when the Red Devils boss explained his thinking:
“I have Youri Tielemans, I have Amadou Onana and who do I have behind? Well of course when you see Raskin’s match in the return leg against Ukraine well you tell yourself that we’ve won a midfielder for the future.
“Because Nico has shown that he’s able to be aggressive, defensive, win duels, he’s able to propose himself because he likes to come search the balls, he played almost 100 balls during the game with more than 90% pass accuracy, while playing forward, because it’s easy to have 90% pass accuracy when you only play backwards.
“Now Romeo Lavia. I’m being told from everywhere that he has talent. For now he’s injured a lot. He finally played 2 matches with Chelsea.
“I almost started getting annoyed telling my medical staff ‘If Chelsea isn’t able to make him fit we’d have to make him come to us to see what’s the problem with a boy so young that’s often injured’.”
How much is Nicolas Raskin worth?
It doesn’t look good as Raskin shows up Celtic’s £11m man Arne Engles again.
Apparently, being able to take a penalty and corner isn’t the top of the list of priorities that an international manager looks for when selecting his squad.
Nicolas Raskin has overshadowed his compatriot on a few occasions now which makes it easy to set a price tag, should potential suitors be interested.
Then there is the £58m that Chelsea paid for Lavia and Rangers have precedent to demand a record transfer fee, should there be offers.
At only 24, Raskin still has his best years ahead of him and has plenty of room to develop whilst also experiencing European football and life at one of the most pressurised clubs in the world.
Garcia is clearly a fan, which is only good news for Rangers, and their bank balance.
