Rangers move for Nicolas Raskin appeared to be dead in the water a few weeks ago when it emerged that teams in Ligue 1 were looking to sign the Belgian Under-21 international, not only do they have deeper pockets but the quality of football and proximity looked to have given them the edge.
Never underestimate the size of Rangers though and the effect that our run to the Europa League final will have had, yes, we were poor this season but there is no doubt that we attracted a lot of positive attention last year – Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo’s transfers in the summer perfectly proving this point.
The last 24 hours has seen Raskin’s name re-emerge, reports from Belgium suggesting that he is now close to a move with Sacha Tavolieri, the journalist who broke the story, revealing how much Rangers will have to pay for the 21-year old to Ibrox News and whether or not it is for an immediate transfer:
“Yes it’s about a permanent move this winter.“
Standard is asking €2.5million [£2.2m] + 20% sell on but it won’t be that price it will be less for sure.”
If Raskin has been as in-demand as previous stories have suggested, if we are able to bring in a player of his quality and potential for just over £2m then Ross Wilson has pulled off a master stroke.
The defensive midfielder might be out of contract in the summer but this is a player who will immediately strengthen our team and who could one day be sold at a significant profit if his development continues at its current rate.
These are the transfer battles that we are usually priced out of, getting Raskin in now ahead of a pre-contract fight would be outstanding work from our sporting director – he might have made a mess of last January but this year’s window is looking altogether more impressive.
Has he signed or is it just rumour
Reports are pre-contract is agreed, now working on fee to get him here now. nothing official announced, yet…