Michael Beale spoke this week ahead of the visit of Motherwell about the structure of his midfield and how, between loan signings and veterans, there are much needed improvements required to bring it up to speed.
One name that has been constantly linked and set for a January move after being dropped by his club to the reserves is Nicolas Raskin, the Standard Liege midfielder who, by refusing to sign a new contract, is deemed surplus to requirements by the Belgians as they look to cash in before losing him for nothing.
Unfortunately, it looks as though Raskin is heading to France with The Daily Record reporting that he has his heart set on a better standard of football:
“Gers have been credited with serious interest and Michael Beale admitted this week he wants to add to his midfield ranks next month, with the highly-rated Belgium under-21 cap seemingly a good fit.
“But he appears to have made it clear he wants to play in Ligue 1 and will move to one of the French clubs.
“Marseille and Toulouse have both made enquiries about signing him now for a cut-price fee now rather than waiting to get him for nothing in the summer.
“Nantes and Reims have also shown interest, but he could be persuaded to go to Toulouse because they are now managed by former Nottingham Forest manager Philippe Montanier, who worked with Raskin when he was in charge of Standard Liege two years ago.”
Raskin is exactly the sort of player we need to help add control to the middle of the park, has the right age profile and experience too, that he is available for less than his market value is an added bonus.
Players like Raskin will always be highly thought of though which means that it is easier for clubs in the bigger leagues to tempt them – their bigger wage budgets make it a lot harder for us to compete whilst staying within budget constraints.
Until any official announcement is made there will always be hope that a deal can be done, it may be that having the choice of being a key player is more important to him than potentially sitting on the bench in a better league.