It’s pretty safe to say the Nicolas Raskin experiment at Rangers isn’t working out, as the Belgian continues to underwhelm and hasn’t kicked a ball in anger at Ibrox since last Spring.
Ibrox Noise polled our readers, and the vast majority didn’t have too many nice things to say about the 23-year-old.
Like Todd Cantwell, the lad arrived last January year and made a big impact at the time, with good work off the ball and vibes of Rino Gattuso.
But unlike the ex-Norwich man, the midfielder hasn’t responded to anything this season and hasn’t raised his game at all, with supporters en-masse considering we have better options.
Ibrox Noise went on record many months ago as being extremely disappointed with Raskin’s attitude, as he spoke to some overseas media and announced, with a depressing level of pride, that Rangers were ‘just a stage’ in his ambitions and he wanted Chelsea.
This was a shocking contrast to the warmth he showed about Rangers as a ‘big brother’ to his hometown side of Liege and that this was absolutely a natural place for him to be.
Fast-forward just four or five months from those charming words, to ‘yeah, just a stage, I’ve got bigger plans, and I want the Premier League and Chelsea’.
At the time, the usual snowflakes in the support defended him as being ‘honest’ and how they respected his transparency. We didn’t. We called him out as using us and very much not wanting to be at Ibrox, and for disrespecting the club as just a stepping stone. Got no issue with players with ambition, but boasting about it so freely doesn’t sit well with us. Think of Morelos.
Even more tellingly, Philippe Clement said some months ago he only wanted players who 100% wanted to be at Rangers, ‘with all their heart’. Raskin clearly doesn’t.
None of which would matter half as much if the boy was delivering on the pitch, but he hasn’t, for a very, very long time.
Now, let’s not use injury as an excuse. He was mince before his injury (sustained in early November) this season, and he’s been mince since coming back (early January).
He’s been completely unfocused since pretty much May last year, and that is well short of what we wanted. This is the guy who fell out with Liege and Ronny Deila, remember, so he has history for bad attitude at clubs.
Meanwhile, the miles-better-option Dujon Sterling, who has been remarkable in Raskin’s position, is being wasted on the wing.
In fact, in every position other than the one he’s best in.
Raskin?
Sit on the bench, prove yourself in cameos, but stay well away from the starting XI for the foreseeable future. Midfield is not a position we’re struggling in.