Nicolas Raskin has spent this summer doing two things at once: helping Belgium chase a deep run at the 2026 World Cup, and quietly making Rangers’ next major transfer decision far more expensive than it looked a few months ago. His latest cameo, coming off the bench for the injured Kevin De Bruyne in Belgium’s dramatic 3-2 extra-time win over Senegal, was another reminder of why so many clubs across Europe are now circling.
Another eye-catching World Cup cameo
Raskin’s 64 minutes against Senegal followed the pattern that’s defined his tournament so far — introduced from the bench, and immediately making his side more secure. The underlying numbers back up the eye test: 62 touches, nine passes into the final third, an 87 per cent overall pass completion rate and a 60 per cent success rate on long balls, according to Fotmob data. Defensively he chipped in with a tackle, three clearances and an interception, helping Belgium claw their way back into a match they trailed 2-0.
Belgian football media were quick to recognise it. DH Les Sports gave him an 8/10, praising how available and proactive he was after coming off the bench. Nieuwsblad rated him 7/10, crediting him with calm and tenacity and suggesting he’d staked a claim for a starting spot. HLN was slightly more measured at 6/10, noting he’d been asked to help rescue a World Cup campaign from a defensive midfield role while Belgium trailed 2-0, and that while his impact wasn’t huge, he did his job and offered stability.
It’s the second standout moment of the tournament for Raskin. In Belgium’s final group game against New Zealand, he came on to anchor the midfield and set up a goal for Romelu Lukaku in a 5-1 win that sealed their place in the knockout stage — a moment good enough that Atalanta forward Charles De Ketelaere, his international teammate, publicly reacted to his celebratory Instagram post, feeding speculation about Atalanta’s interest in signing him.
Belgium now progress to face the United States in the round of 16, and head coach Rudi Garcia has a genuine selection dilemma on his hands over whether to hand Raskin his first World Cup start.
A transfer saga that predates the tournament
None of this interest is entirely new. Raskin’s situation has been a major talking point at Ibrox across the last two transfer windows, and his profile — a combative, progressive central midfielder equally capable defensively and in the final third — has made him a consistent name in transfer reporting all year. What’s changed is the sheer weight of interest piling up as the World Cup progresses, and the price Rangers are now demanding as a result.
He joined Rangers from Standard Liège in January 2023 and has become one of the club’s most important players since, finishing last season with six goals and seven assists in Scottish Premiership action (figures that rise to seven goals and nine assists across all competitions in some season-long tallies). That form earned him a place in Belgium’s World Cup squad, and he has featured in every one of their matches in the tournament so far.
Rangers moving the valuation goalposts
The clearest sign of how much Raskin’s stock has risen is Rangers’ own shifting price tag. As recently as April, reports had Rangers valuing him at around £20 million. That figure has already been tested and rejected once — Hull City, newly promoted to the Premier League after winning the Championship play-off final, lodged a bid in the region of £14 million, only for Rangers to knock it back immediately.
Rather than settle into a standoff at £20 million, sources have since told Football Insider that Rangers intend to push their asking price up towards £25 million, hoping to engineer a genuine bidding war between the various interested clubs as Raskin’s World Cup form continues to attract attention. With Raskin now entering the final two years of his contract, Rangers are approaching the point where — reluctant as they may be to lose their best midfielder — a definitive decision on his future can’t be put off much longer.
A genuinely three-league scramble
What makes Raskin’s situation different from a typical one-club transfer saga is just how many leagues are represented among his suitors. Hull City remain keen on taking him to the Premier League, with former Hull defender Mick Brown telling Football Insider the club are confident of landing him and pointing out that Rangers may struggle to compete with the lure of Premier League football, whatever fee is agreed. Hull have already done business with Rangers this summer in the other direction, with Jack Butland heading to the Tigers as Ivor Pandur arrives at Ibrox as his replacement — a working relationship between the two clubs that could smooth the path to an eventual deal.
In Serie A, Bologna have opened preliminary talks over a deal, described as signalling serious intent even though no concrete bid has yet arrived from Italy. There’s an obvious added subplot here: Bologna are also the club Rangers are trying to prise Lewis Ferguson away from, and reports have floated the idea of the two situations being linked, with suggestions that if Bologna could offer Ferguson as makeweight in a deal involving Raskin, few at Ibrox would object. Atalanta, meanwhile, are considered among the genuine frontrunners for Raskin outright, reportedly working to a swift timeline as they look to replace Ederson, who is expected to depart for Manchester United, and manager Maurizio Sarri is said to be specifically seeking the kind of dynamic midfield presence Raskin provides.
Spain’s Real Betis added themselves to the mix too, with sources indicating a genuine desire to strike a deal and reports suggesting they were confident of agreeing a fee below Rangers’ asking price. That interest has cooled since, however — recent reporting suggests Betis have shifted their midfield focus toward Uruguayan defensive midfielder Facundo Bernal from Fluminense, with manager Manuel Pellegrini’s priorities apparently moving toward other targets, including Real Madrid’s Dani Ceballos. If accurate, that would remove one of Raskin’s three genuine suitors from the race, even as the others intensify their interest.
Beyond that active shortlist, Raskin has also been persistently linked with a wider group of Premier League clubs over an extended period — TEAMtalk has reported ongoing scouting interest from Aston Villa, West Ham United, Crystal Palace, Wolves and Brighton across the last 18 months, though none of that longer-standing interest has yet translated into firm enquiries this summer.
What Raskin himself wants
Raskin’s own position has been a mix of ambition and diplomacy. He is understood to have made clear that he wants a move to one of Europe’s genuine top-five leagues, and there is history here worth noting: his grandfather, Gilbert Govaert, said last summer that Raskin had been disappointed when a proposed move fell through late in a previous transfer window.
Publicly, though, Raskin has been careful not to let transfer talk overshadow his tournament. Asked about interest from Serie A clubs, he said he wasn’t preoccupied with it and was leaving those conversations to his representatives in Belgium, adding that he saw the World Cup itself as a platform to showcase his ability rather than a distraction from his club future. That stance — postponing any serious transfer conversations until after Belgium’s involvement in the tournament ends — appears to be holding, even as the noise around him builds.
The Ferguson connection
Raskin’s situation and Rangers’ pursuit of Lewis Ferguson have become increasingly intertwined in transfer reporting, and it’s easy to see why. Ferguson, Bologna’s Coppa Italia-winning captain, has been Rangers’ priority midfield reinforcement all summer, with Bologna reportedly holding out for a fee in the region of £17 million. Raskin, heading in the opposite direction, offers Rangers a potential way of softening that blow — either by using proceeds from his sale to help fund a Ferguson deal, or through a more direct structure involving both clubs.
For Rangers, losing Raskin would obviously require careful succession planning, but that planning is already underway in the form of the Ferguson pursuit. A substantial sale of Raskin, at anywhere near Rangers’ revised £25 million valuation, would also represent the buy-low-sell-high model the club’s recruitment has increasingly leaned on paying off in spectacular fashion — Raskin himself arrived from Standard Liège for a fee well below what Rangers are now demanding for his signature.
What happens next
For now, everything is on hold. Belgium’s continued progress at the World Cup means Raskin remains in North America, focused on their last-16 tie with the United States rather than his club future, and none of the interested parties — Hull, Bologna, Atalanta, or any lingering interest from elsewhere — appear likely to force the issue while he’s still on international duty.
But the direction of travel is clear. Every eye-catching cameo pushes his valuation higher, every additional club credited with interest strengthens Rangers’ hand in demanding a premium fee, and every passing week brings Raskin closer to a point in his contract — now down to two years remaining — where Rangers will have to decide whether to cash in at a career-high valuation or risk his value eroding as his deal shortens further. New manager Derek McInnes has offered no public comment on Raskin’s situation yet, but with a midfielder increasingly viewed as surplus to his own long-term ambitions unless a new contract materialises, few expect that silence to last much beyond the end of the World Cup.
