Credit: Imago

Aheed Abrar

Fri 17 April 2026 13:10, UK

Andrew Cavenagh must be breathing a sigh of relief at Rangers after not selling Nicolas Raskin last summer.

Daily Record journalist Keith Jackson believes the Gers came close to making a monumental mistake, as the Belgium international could have been sold for cheap after an apparent falling out with Russell Martin.

There’s also a possibility that the Light Blues may get automatic qualification to the Champions League’s League Phase next season if they win the William Hill Premiership title, and the 25-year-old midfielder will arguably play a major role in achieving that.

Playing in the UCL could possibly bring in around £60million, and add the loss they arguably would have made by selling Raskin prematurely, the American owners barely avoided a massive error at Ibrox.

There’s no doubt Cavenagh will now back Danny Rohl again in the summer after what the Glaswegian outfit have been able to achieve in the current campaign, but things could have been drastically different had the Govan side’s hierarchy listened to Martin.

Nicolas Raskin takes initiative as Rangers in dreamland

It was Raskin who turned up to training under Martin and decided that he wanted to stay at the Gers.

The Belgian ace has now scored five goals and provided seven assists in the league, leading the Light Blues to victory in the 6-3 comeback win over Falkirk.

At one stage of the season, Hearts were 13 points clear of the Govan side, but Rohl has closed the gap to just one with five games to go post-split.

If the Glaswegian outfit win every game until the end of the campaign, the title will be theirs, something that wasn’t conceivable at one point.

Speaking on Hotline Live on 16 April, Jackson said, “If you put yourself in Cavenagh’s shoes today, he must be thinking, ‘Wow, how close was that?’ One, about his potential transfer value in the market this summer or after the World Cup.

“And two, imagine Rangers do manage to get over the line and Raskin is the guy that drives this over these next five days. It’s looking more and more like, with each passing week, that Rangers would then go automatically into the Champions League.

“You’re looking at a mistake that would be made there that ultimately could be the difference. What’s it now for the Champions League? It’s £60m just for the Champions League alone and then if you look at whatever millions Martin would’ve wiped off the transfer value, it’s astonishing. And that’s how close Rangers came to a monumental mistake.”

Andrew Cavenagh laughing all the way to the bank at Ibrox

Raskin can lead Rangers to glory in Scotland and could then be part of the Belgium national team’s plans as they look to pull off something special at the 2026 World Cup.

The midfielder has the opportunity to catch the eye on the international stage, and if he succeeds, Cavenagh may have a multi-million-pound player on his hands.

In the summer of 2022, Calvin Bassey became the Gers’ record player sale, moving to Ajax for £19.6m, but Raskin could potentially shatter that record.

Cavenagh is slowly starting to get things right in Govan and fans are anticipating exciting times ahead at the Glaswegian outfit.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Govan.