{"id":61254,"date":"2025-08-12T00:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T00:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/61254\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T00:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T00:38:09","slug":"the-reason-nico-raskin-was-dropped-from-rangers-team-by-russell-martin-amid-15million-transfer-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/61254\/","title":{"rendered":"The reason Nico Raskin was dropped from Rangers team by Russell Martin amid \u00a315million transfer talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Belgian has been linked with Premier League clubs down south<\/p>\n

19:39, 11 Aug 2025Updated 21:48, 11 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

Russell Martin admits he chose to drop Nico Raskin<\/a> from his line-up after deciding the Rangers ace\u2019s head had been turned by summer speculation.<\/p>\n

But the Ibrox gaffer insists he remains firmly part of his plans after watching the Belgian international knuckle down in the wake of his shock omission from last week\u2019s Champions League<\/a> win over Viktoria Plzen.<\/p>\n

Raskin was Gers stand-out performer last term but Martin<\/a> stunned the 24-year-old when he bombed him out of the team that started the 3-0 first-leg triumph.<\/p>\n

The new Rangers<\/a> boss has been concerned with the midfield battler\u2019s focus levels following months of rumours suggesting he could be set for a big money move away from Glasgow.<\/p>\n

But Raskin is now set to be recalled for Tuesday’s return clash in the Czech Republic after impressing his manager with his renewed commitment levels.<\/p>\n

Martin said: \u201cWhat Nico did last season, rightly or wrongly, I can’t have a feeling about. Does that make sense? I can only judge on right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he played brilliantly on Saturday (when he came off the bench against Dundee). He came out of the team for a reason that me and him spoke about.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd his reaction has been top. Like, really, really brilliant. And I think that’s all you can ever ask for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a bit of uncertainty about him this summer, for sure. Not from people ringing us, but I think from people ringing him, definitely. So, I think that’s affected his approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot in terms of professionalism and stuff, but he’s a young man. Of course, he’s going to have an impact at some point.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then we had a discussion and since he came out of the team, he’s been a different guy. Incredible. So, he needs to stay all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, what anyone did last season – and it’s difficult to say that because fans have watched him play really well for the team – to judge someone on that is really [hard] because what we’re going to ask him to do is so different.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he’s a really fantastic player. And he’s a young man that I’m getting to know all the time.<\/p>\n

\"RangersRangers boss Russell Martin speaks to media ahead of Plzen Champions League return<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd actually, I really like his character and personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think I’m really clear with him on the demands of what playing in the position he really wants to play in is going to take.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it’ll be up to him because he’ll have opportunities like he did on Saturday to play there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made a big difference for us. He made the most difference. He made half of the tackles that we made the whole game. So, there’s a big, big difference for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, he needs to live there all the time, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s my job to make sure, playing for this football club, whoever you are, that the demands are really clear and whatever position you play.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when he lives there, he’s fantastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, hopefully, he can get to the end of the window, he\u2019s played brilliantly, window shuts and he\u2019s still here. And then we can keep improving and keep kicking on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he felt Raskin\u2019s head had been turned by the transfer talk, Martin said: \u201cI think there’s been loads of stuff written in your back pages, about \u00a320million, \u00a315million, this club, that club.<\/p>\n

“I’m not saying it’s been you guys, but there’s been a lot of uncertainty around a lot of players,<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think that’s every summer when you play for a football club like this. So, people deal with it in many different ways and he’s been fantastic in his reaction, which has been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raskin cost Rangers a little under \u00a31.5million when he arrived two-and-a-half years ago but the Rangers support expect their club to drive a hard bargain should he leave this window.<\/p>\n

And Martin said: \u201cI don’t think we’re in a position where we have to sell anyone.<\/p>\n

\"NicoNico Raskin and boss Russell Martin<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think we’re in a position where we want to lose some of the best performers last season that we think can become really top performers for us this season and moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, that’s the plan, unless someone comes in and blows our minds and everyone decides – the player, the club – that it’s the best for everyone [to go]. And then we can make sure that we\u2019re in a position to replace them with someone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think there is a club that’s immune to that, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Spurs loan signing Mikey Moore will have to wait until Saturday\u2019s Premier Sports Cup clash with Alloa to make his debut – but could be joined in facing the Wasps by Thelo Aasgaard and Hamza Igamane.<\/p>\n

Martin said: \u201cNo, Mikey will be registered in time for Saturday, so he’ll be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all three of them will be in the squad on Saturday, actually, all being well this week – but not tomorrow night.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Belgian has been linked with Premier League clubs down south 19:39, 11 Aug 2025Updated 21:48, 11 Aug…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,6257,41608,596,38944,30838,8998,9001,9005,9003,85,9002],"class_list":["post-61254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-champions-league","tag-dundee-fc","tag-football","tag-mikey-moore","tag-nicolas-raskin","tag-rangers-fc","tag-rangers-fc-transfer-news","tag-russell-martin","tag-scottish-premiership","tag-sports","tag-transfer-talk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}