Rangers: Roberto Martinez raves about Nico Raskin transfer after Everton star Amadou Onana left him behind with Belgium
Roberto Martinez expects Nico Raskin to break into the senior Belgium side after making his move to Rangers, despite never having called him up while in charge.
The former Red Devils manager raved about the January acquisition of the former Standard Liege man, as a “very clever signing”, and spoke of how he “loved working with” the Ibrox midfielder.
But it wasn’t enough to get him to bring him into the senior set up, and the 49-year-old claims Everton star Amadou Onana’s accelerated path to Ligue 1 and the Premier League helped him make the step up first when the pair were both tabbed as future stars when in the under-21s.
The Portugal boss said at the Beatson Sporting Dinner, as per Football Scotland, of Raskin’s first full cap: “I think it’s very, very close. Very close because in the lists of the federation, he was always one of the big potentials at that time. It was Amadou Onana and Raskin in the Under 21s as the two midfielders.
“Onana moved to Lille and then moved to Everton and that accelerated his time. But probably the normal step will be the Under 21s European Championships this summer and then the doors are open for the first team. I don’t see too much longer if he carries on being important for Rangers he’ll have a great chance.”
Catch up
Onana is the big-name star whose climb from Bundesliga 2 to the English top flight has been rapid, with another multi-million move possibly on the cards this summer just a year after his £33million switch to Goodison Park.
Raskin by comparison stalled in his home country, as the long-mooted departure finally came only after he had been frozen out of proceedings by Ronnie Deila.
He’s making up for lost time under Michael and has had an encouraging start to life as a Rangers player, but his arrival hasn’t been enough to avoid an empty-handed season.
With Raskin revealing his plans to also move to the Premier League, specifically with Chelsea, last week in an interview with DH Les Sports (5 May), a step up and international level would undoubtedly increase the number of eyes on him.
It is a fact of life in the SPFL these days that the best players will be snapped up for big-money moves eventually, and the relative lack of available assets to use for that this summer is an issue that Michael Beale is currently having to navigate.
Light Blues fans will very much hope that their winter signing continues to put in performances that attract the attention of Domenico Tedesco, but would perhaps like to hold onto him for a couple of seasons yet.
In other Rangers news, the club are lining up a multi-million pound deal to come the other way from the Premier League.