If you are confused as to why Rangers haven’t yet announced Nicolas Raskin then don’t worry, you aren’t the only one.
A deal with the player, which is widely reported, has already been agreed and a medical has been passed so, why the hold up?
Ross Wilson is clearly negotiating to get the 21-year old signed in this window but we seem to be no closer to getting it over the line than we were a week ago, a transfer that seemed to be a foregone conclusion now looks like it is going to go down to the wire.
And for what?
🚨🔄Standard : La reconstruction a commencé
👉Dragus en prêt avec OA à 2️⃣M€
👉Amallah à @realvalladolid pour 2️⃣M€.
👉 Raskin: Première offre des @RangersFC (5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣K€) refusée par le @Standard_RSCL qui en veut 2️⃣M€. https://t.co/g0NcwuW7kl— Kevin Sauvage (@KevSauvage) January 27, 2023
So far, we have Kevin Sauvage, a Belgian journalist, saying that Standard Liege want circa £1.7million for Raskin with Rangers having offered less than £500,000. Chris Jack, a Rangers correspondent for The Herald, claiming that we have bid £500,000 but the asking price is less than £1m and Sacha Tovolieri, another journalist based in Belgium who has reported that Liege want £2.2m plus a 20% sell-on clause.
Rangers move for Nicolas Raskin stalls as Standard Liege reject bid https://t.co/4KYfhCwJWs
— Herald Sport (@Herald_Sport_) January 26, 2023
Even at the top price I’d expect us to be getting it done in this window given Raskin’s potential to be a key player and to make money for us in the future, although, if he has signed a pre-contract agreement, I don’t think I’d be giving up any rights to a future sale.
It’s understandable, if not frustrating, for us to go in with such a low initial offer but you’d expect it to be a relatively short negotiation process given that Liege want to sell the player and because he has already agreed to join us.
With every passing week it looks like we will be playing Champions League qualifiers again next season so being able to start preparations six months early and bed players like Todd Cantwell and Raskin in now is key to our chances, it’s a mistake we have made in the past, let’s hope that we have learned our lessons the hard way and don’t repeat them for the sake of a few hundred thousand pounds.