Nicolas Raskin of Rangers FC gestures during the friendly match between AFC Ajax and Rangers.
Philippe Clement comments appear to explain why Nicolas Raskin never played v Dundee
As Dujon Sterling came into the Rangers midfield against Dundee, some Gers fans might’ve been surprised.
The versatile right-back has routinely played for the Ibrox side in the middle of the pitch but in a game Rangers were expected to dominate perhaps someone else had more suitable qualities.
The decision to start Sterling was backtracked come half-time when Philippe Clement replaced the defender for Mohamed Diomande.
But the presence of ex-Chelsea star Sterling in the starting XI has raised some questions surrounding the status of a once highly-rated young Ger who has his sights on Stamford Bridge.
READ MORE: Seven big takeaways as John Gilligan addresses Rangers press conference
Nicolas Raskin of Rangers FC leaves the pitch injured during the friendly match between AFC Ajax and Rangers FC at Sportpark Mulderssingel on July …
Photo by Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images
Nicolas Raskin stalls at Rangers
This is isn’t the first time we’ve spoken about the situation surrounding Nicolas Raskin at Rangers.
Having joined the Gers over 20 months ago from Standard Liege, the 23-year-old Belgian midfielder is yet to live up to the hype with which he arrived in Glasgow.
Linked to the likes of Napoli and Barcelona, ex-Belgium manager Roberto Martinez lauded Rangers for signing Raskin and even compared the Standard prodigy as the heir to Gennaro Gattuso’s footballing throne.
Raskin himself even suggested he hoped to use Rangers as a stepping stone to the bright lights of the Premier League and Chelsea Football Club.
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But over the last 18 months, injuries have interrupted Raskin’s flow at Ibrox and the midfielder has struggled to nail down a place despite the limited options the club possess in the middle of the park.
Ruled out again courtesy of a crunching challenge in a pre-season friendly v Ajax, Raskin has been reintroduced to the team slowly over the last few weeks.
Against Dundee, the midfielder failed to get off the bench.
But whilst many might’ve felt Nicolas Raskin would’ve been better suited to the clash with Dundee than Sterling, earlier comments from Philippe Clement suggests the Belgian is in direct competition with a form starter.
Rangers manager insists there is a plan with Belgian
As Mohamed Diomande dropped out of the middle of the pitch for Rangers, Dujon Sterling slipped in.
This is something we expect to see a little more of in the weeks and months ahead with Clement clearly feeling he can swap the two in and out with minimal impact on his system.
On the other side of midfield, the impressive Connor Barron has made that berth his own.
Signed in the summer from Aberdeen, Barron has taken huge strides already at Rangers with his tigerish, aggressive and progressive performances winning him a following amongst the Gers support.
And it’s Barron – not Diomande – who Nicolas Raskin will have to dislodge if he stands a chance of making it at Rangers.
At least that’s according to Philippe Clement, who said as much himself only a few weeks ago.
Despite the lack of minutes, Clement firmly believes in Raskin’s quality and has suggested that the Belgian has what it takes to make a big impact in Glasgow.
The Ibrox manager is also clear that there will be opportunities for the Belgian as the hectic schedule of the next few weeks begins to ramp up.
“I hope [he can have] a really big one [season],” Clement said on 14th September, via the Herald. “Nico has a lot of quality and he has a lot of competition also with a good player like Connor Barron.
“So it’s going to be interesting with the two of them.
“But we have a lot of games. So this is going to be the season until the end of January. So that’s the next four months and a half that we will play every three days normally.”
“For sure for the internationals, it’s something that never happened before in football. There were so many games without a winter break.
“So we will need all those players to be at their best to perform in all four competitions because we have ambitions in all four competitions. It’s not one competition that we throw in.
“He’s not at his best of course because he came out of injury. But he’s getting better and better to grow at his old level again.”
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