Rangers and Besiktas Reach Verbal Agreement for Nicolas Raskin
Rangers are braced for a decisive 48 hours in their season, with Nicolas Raskin at the centre of it all.
According to Fabrizio Romano, the Ibrox club have reached a verbal agreement with Besiktas over the sale of the Belgian midfielder, leaving the player to decide whether his future lies in Istanbul. Talks are ongoing, with all sides pushing to bring the saga to a close one way or the other.
The timing is brutal but familiar.
Rangers have taken just four points from their opening three Scottish Premiership fixtures and are already chasing Celtic in the title race. With the Scottish window closing at 5pm on Thursday, Derek McInnes and the board are juggling two battles at once: strengthening a stuttering squad while trying not to lose key assets.
Most of Europe shut up shop on Tuesday night, but the Turkish market remains open until Friday. That has left Rangers exposed. Besiktas have moved into that gap, testing Rangers’ resolve over a player who, not long ago, looked like a cornerstone of their midfield for years to come.
A partnership that’s run its course?
Raskin arrived in the 2023 January window and quickly carved out a place in the hearts of the Ibrox support. Tenacious, tidy, and willing to take the ball under pressure, he delivered a string of big performances and racked up 50 appearances in all competitions last season.
Yet this campaign has told a different story. The 25-year-old has been left out of the squad for two of Rangers’ three league matches so far, his omission driven less by form than by the growing uncertainty over his future. The tension around his situation has been impossible to ignore.
The expectation inside and outside the club was that Raskin would move on this summer after shining at the World Cup with Belgium. The major European windows came and went without the kind of firm offer that would force Rangers’ hand. Now, with time almost up, Besiktas have stepped into the frame.
Whether Istanbul is the right next step for him will be decided in hours, not weeks.
McInnes’ stance and the dressing-room dynamic
Through it all, Derek McInnes has gone out of his way to praise Raskin’s professionalism.
“Nico's been first-class since he came back from the World Cup – he's been good as gold, he's trained brilliantly,” the Rangers manager said recently, making it clear there has been no sulking or disruption behind the scenes.
McInnes acknowledged the swirl of interest and conversations with potential buyers, but his message to the player has been simple: until an offer arrives that the club must seriously consider, Raskin has to keep his head down and work.
He has also been adamant that, if the window closes and Raskin remains a Rangers player, the midfielder will continue to give “brilliant service” just as he has done so far. The interest, McInnes stressed, exists because Raskin is a good player – the kind he wants to keep around.
The problem is that the market, and the calendar, rarely care about sentiment.
Replace or trust what’s already there?
If Besiktas and Raskin shake hands on the move, Rangers will have a decision to make immediately. Do they rush to bring in a replacement, or back the business they have already done?
McInnes has not stood still in midfield this summer. Cammy Devlin, Dan Neil and Vanja Dragojevic have all arrived, giving him fresh legs and different profiles in the centre of the park. On paper, that softens the blow of losing a player of Raskin’s quality. In reality, it raises a sharper question.
With the title race already tilting away from them and the window about to slam shut, can Rangers really afford to let a proven performer walk out the door and simply hope the new signings click fast enough?
The answer may define their season – and Raskin’s next chapter.
