Rangers star branded club MVP amid Aston Villa and Wolves transfer links but key reason makes a sale possible
The midfielder has been linked with moves to Aston Villa and Wolves this summer.
Nico Raskin has been branded the Rangers player trading kick-starter - as the likes of Aston Villa and Wolves circle the Ibrox star.
Both Premier League sides and others in the shape of Fiorentina have been mentioned as a possible landing spot for the midfielder who’s shone since signing from Standard Liege. The transfer window is still open and his future was subject of debate on TV and the airwaves prior to Rangers’ 3-1 Champions League play off first leg defeat against Club Brugge.
Now he is amongst the elite with Belgium’s national team, Scott Arfield believes Raskin is the top asset at Ibrox right now. To ignite a spark under their player trading model, the fan favourite admits a sale to the likes of sides interested such as Aston Villa plus Wolves possibly makes sense.
Why Nico Raskin sale by Rangers makes sense
Arfield told Amazon Prime: “In terms of an asset, he is the one that will get the biggest money for this football club. I just think he has got a lot, a lot of ability, Nico Raskin. Now he is in with the elite players in that Belgium team, it’s about time that if he is not going to stay here, the player model Rangers keep talking about, it needs to start with players like that to maximise the value of the player.”
Ex goalkeeper Allan McGregor: “Has there be any concrete interest? Is it just rumours? You never know but if he does well in this competition, hopefully they get to the Champions League and it hopefully raises his price for the club, if they do want to sell him.”
Billy Dodds was also talking Raskin, and opened up on how he coached the Belgian as part of Barry Ferguson’s interim Rangers management team last season. He told Sportsound: “The first thing I would say you have to get the best players in the team and for me Nico Raskin is one of the best players at the club so you have to get him in there.
What it’s like managing Nico Raskin
“Now that takes a bit of managing and he was brilliant for us and became an all-rounder. He wanted to play the six but we had to control him and handle him and keep him upbeat as well because he's a boy where if he doesn't feel that you have given him the right job within the team he'll let you know.
“But surely that's part of the job? Where you go ‘right, I'm going to manage you, and tell you why I'm doing this and be strong with you. With good messages to you, positive messages and that's what we had to do. He tested us, trust me. Neil McCann and him, myself and him, Barry and him. I was so positive with him and he really bought into... you see the goals he scored at the end of the season.
“I said you can play a six but you're going to go make more money if you play an all-rounder and hit the box and you've got the energy to do that and chop your legs off if you don't I've said that so many times now. You've got to understand Nico, and by the way, he bought into it and he was a sponge.”