BOYD SOUNDS ALARM ON RASKIN FUTURE AS RANGERS PREPARE FOR FRESH ROUND OF IBROX DEPARTURES BEFORE TRANSFER DEADLINE
Kris Boyd has made it clear he does not see a long-term future for Nicolas Raskin at Rangers, adding his voice to a growing chorus of observers who believe the Belgian midfielder’s Ibrox career is now approaching its natural conclusion, and his comments arrive at a particularly pointed moment given just how much business Derek McInnes and the Light Blues hierarchy have already conducted in the middle of the park this summer. Raskin’s situation has been simmering for weeks now, but Boyd’s intervention adds a fresh layer of urgency to a story that increasingly looks like a matter of when rather than if, with the former Scotland international framing the midfielder’s departure as close to inevitable once the club’s recent investment in alternative central options is taken into account. For a player who has been one of the more reliable performers in a Rangers shirt over the past couple of seasons, the sense that his time in Govan is drawing to a close will not sit entirely comfortably with supporters, even if the financial and squad-building logic behind a potential sale is not difficult to follow.
The heart of Boyd’s argument centres on simple arithmetic. Rangers have already brought in seven new faces during this transfer window, with further additions still expected before business closes, and a significant portion of that spending has been directed squarely at the engine room, the very position Raskin occupies. Dan Neil, Cammy Devlin and Vanja Dragojevic have all arrived to bolster the midfield in one way or another, a level of recruitment that inevitably raises questions about which of the club’s existing options might now find themselves squeezed out of regular selection. Boyd’s view is that with so much money already committed to reshaping that area of the pitch, it would make financial sense for the club to recoup some of that outlay by cashing in on a player who continues to attract interest from clubs across the continent. It is a pragmatic reading of the situation rather than a reflection on Raskin’s ability, and it speaks to the broader balancing act McInnes and the Ibrox hierarchy face as they try to build a squad capable of competing on multiple fronts without allowing the wage bill or squad numbers to spiral out of control.
Andrew Cavenagh’s ownership group has not been shy about backing McInnes financially since taking charge, and the volume of incoming transfers this summer is testament to that willingness to invest in the manager’s rebuilding project. But spending heavily on new arrivals only tells half the story of any successful transfer window, and the American owners will be just as focused on ensuring the club’s finances remain balanced as they are on strengthening the first-team squad. Selling a player of Raskin’s calibre, assuming the right offer materialises, would represent exactly the kind of sensible business that allows continued investment elsewhere without placing undue strain on Rangers’ overall financial position. It is the sort of trade-off that supporters may find difficult to fully embrace in the moment, particularly when it involves a popular and effective performer, but which often proves essential to sustaining a period of sustained squad improvement over successive transfer windows rather than a single, unsustainable spending spree.
Raskin is far from the only player whose long-term Ibrox future has come under scrutiny this summer, and Boyd was equally direct in identifying other members of the current squad he believes should be moved on before the transfer window shuts. Djeidi Gassama was singled out specifically, with Boyd expressing clear disappointment at the winger’s level of performance in Rangers’ recent friendly against West Ham United. According to Boyd, Gassama looked like a shadow of the player who impressed earlier last season, and he suggested the winger might benefit from a change of scenery rather than continuing to fight for a place in a Rangers squad that already looks crowded in wide areas. Whether that assessment proves fair over a longer sample of matches remains to be seen, but a single underwhelming pre-season outing against West Ham has clearly done little to shift the growing sense that Gassama’s Ibrox career may not have long left to run regardless of the broader context around one individual friendly performance.
So far this summer, Rangers have made seven permanent signings, a figure that underlines just how aggressively McInnes and the recruitment team have gone about reshaping the squad since the end of last season. On the other side of the ledger, the outgoings have been comparatively modest by comparison, with Bailey Rice, Jack Butland and Danilo the only senior departures confirmed from the first-team squad to date. Given the scale of incoming business, it stands to reason that further departures will follow before the window closes, if only to keep the squad at a manageable size and ensure that fringe players are not left to spend another season kicking their heels in the reserves or out on the periphery of matchday squads. Raskin and Gassama may simply be the two names currently attracting the most attention, but there is a reasonable expectation that others could follow them out of Ibrox before the transfer deadline arrives, particularly among players who featured only sparingly during the previous campaign under the club’s former head coach.
That points toward one of the more curious subplots of the summer, the situation surrounding Nedim Bajrami. The Albania international arrived at Ibrox in 2024 amid considerable optimism, having built a strong reputation during his time at Sassuolo in Serie A, but his time in Scotland has so far fallen well short of those early expectations. Last season in particular saw Bajrami reduced to a bit-part role under Danny Rohl, with the head coach at the time consistently preferring other options in the final third rather than building the team around the Albanian’s creative qualities. Reports throughout the earlier part of this transfer window suggested Bajrami had been placed among the group of players considered surplus to requirements, part of what has become known in football parlance as the bomb squad, the collection of fringe or unwanted players kept apart from first-team training in the hope of moving them on before a new season begins in earnest.
Yet there are signs that Bajrami’s situation at the club may be shifting, and shifting in a more positive direction than many observers had anticipated only a few weeks ago. Derek McInnes has reportedly leaned on the attacking midfielder during pre-season preparations, using him in a more prominent role than his previous status as an apparent outcast would have suggested was likely. Given the lack of depth and quality Rangers currently possess in wide attacking areas, particularly if further departures like Gassama’s do eventually materialise, there is a genuine case to be made that Bajrami could yet have a meaningful role to play for McInnes this season after all. It would represent something of a reversal of fortune for a player many had already written off as a makeweight sale, and it underlines just how quickly perceptions and squad plans can change once a new manager arrives and begins assessing the group with fresh eyes rather than relying purely on reputation or reports of a player’s previous form under different coaching staff.
The broader picture emerging from all of this is one of a Rangers squad still very much in flux as the new season approaches. McInnes has been given the resources to overhaul significant parts of the team, and the sheer volume of incoming transfers this summer reflects a manager and hierarchy determined to move quickly and decisively rather than allow the rebuilding process to drag out across multiple transfer windows. But with that scale of investment comes an inevitable reckoning for players who no longer fit neatly into the manager’s plans, whether because their specific position has been strengthened elsewhere, because their recent form has fallen short of the standard required, or simply because the numbers in the squad need to be trimmed to a workable level before the season gets fully under way. Raskin, Gassama and Bajrami each represent a different facet of that same underlying story, players whose futures hang in the balance for reasons ranging from financial pragmatism to performance concerns to a belated managerial change of heart.
For a player of Raskin’s profile, interest from clubs elsewhere in Europe is unlikely to be a surprise to anyone who has followed his performances over the past two seasons. Central midfielders capable of dictating tempo, breaking up opposition attacks and contributing further up the pitch are always in demand, and a player with his level of composure on the ball has long looked like a candidate to eventually move on to a bigger stage, whether that means a return to Belgium, a move elsewhere on the continent, or interest from a Premier League club looking to add composure and physicality in the middle of the park. Rangers, for their part, would be entitled to feel they extracted excellent value from his time at the club if a sale does eventually go through, particularly given the modest fee understood to have been paid to bring him to Ibrox in the first place. Selling well, as much as buying well, has long been a hallmark of sustainable football club management, and cashing in on a player whose stock has risen significantly during his time in Scotland would fit that pattern closely.
None of this is to say that supporters will find the prospect of losing Raskin an easy one to accept. Fans have grown accustomed to seeing him control matches from deep positions, and the sense of losing a player who has become a genuine crowd favourite, even amid a summer of otherwise positive incoming transfer activity, will inevitably generate a degree of frustration among the Ibrox faithful. That frustration is likely to be tempered somewhat by the scale of the midfield reinforcements already brought in, with Neil, Devlin and Dragojevic all offering something slightly different to what Raskin currently provides, giving McInnes genuine strength in depth in a position that has occasionally looked thin in previous seasons. Whether those new arrivals can collectively replace the value Raskin has provided over the past two years remains an open question that will only be answered once the season is properly under way and results begin to accumulate.
It is also worth considering the timing of Boyd’s comments within the wider media cycle surrounding Rangers this summer. Pundit appearances of this kind, delivered on football broadcast platforms rather than through official club channels, often carry an outsized influence on supporter sentiment precisely because they are perceived as independent assessments rather than carefully managed statements designed to protect a player’s value or a manager’s authority. When a figure with Boyd’s profile and history at the club states plainly that he would be surprised if a player remains beyond the summer, that framing tends to accelerate speculation rather than settle it, regardless of whether any concrete transfer discussions are actually taking place behind the scenes. Fans parse these comments for hidden meaning, wondering whether a pundit with strong connections inside Scottish football might be reflecting genuine dressing-room knowledge rather than simply offering a personal opinion based on the same publicly available information as everyone else. That distinction rarely gets resolved definitively, but it explains why comments of this nature tend to dominate discussion boards and social media in the days that follow, often overshadowing the club’s own pre-season preparations in the process.
There is also a broader tactical dimension to why Rangers might feel comfortable moving on from a player of Raskin’s profile this particular summer, beyond simply the financial logic Boyd outlined. McInnes has shown throughout the transfer window a clear preference for building a squad with greater physical presence and defensive solidity in central areas, qualities that Devlin in particular is understood to bring in abundance. Where Raskin has built his reputation on progressive passing and composure in possession, the additions McInnes has sanctioned suggest a manager looking to add balance to a midfield that may have occasionally been overrun in physical contests during the previous campaign. That is not necessarily a criticism of Raskin’s own game, but rather a reflection of how modern squad-building often prioritises variety of profile over simply accumulating the most talented individual players regardless of how they complement one another stylistically. A midfield stocked entirely with technically gifted, ball-playing profiles can leave a team short of the physicality required to cope with more direct opposition, something McInnes appears determined to guard against as he shapes his squad for a long and demanding season across multiple competitions.
The situation surrounding Gassama also deserves further context beyond the single friendly performance that appears to have prompted Boyd’s criticism. Wingers, by the nature of their position, are often judged on the most visible and immediate aspects of their game, moments of individual quality that either come off spectacularly or fail to materialise at all, and a difficult evening against a Premier League side in a pre-season friendly is unlikely to tell the full story of a player’s overall level. That said, the concern Boyd raised does tap into a wider unease among some observers that Gassama has not kicked on in the way many expected after a promising start to his time in Scotland, and pre-season form, however unreliable a predictor of the campaign to come, still shapes early narratives that can be difficult to shift once the competitive fixtures begin. Should Gassama start the season poorly, the kind of criticism currently circulating is likely to intensify quickly, placing him under pressure to deliver an immediate response once matches that actually matter get under way.
Bajrami’s story, meanwhile, offers a useful reminder of just how much influence a change of head coach can have on a player’s standing within a squad, entirely independent of that player’s own form or effort. Having arrived with considerable fanfare in 2024 on the back of his performances in Serie A, the Albanian international found himself marginalised under Danny Rohl, unable to force his way into a settled attacking unit that the head coach at the time preferred to build around different personnel. The change in management that followed appears to have given Bajrami a fresh opportunity to prove his worth, and pre-season minutes under McInnes suggest the new head coach may see qualities in the player that his predecessor either overlooked or simply had no room to accommodate within his preferred system. If Bajrami does go on to establish himself as a regular contributor this season, it will stand as a notable example of a player’s fortunes being transformed almost entirely by a managerial change rather than by any dramatic shift in his own underlying ability, a phenomenon that recurs throughout football far more often than reputation and reported valuations alone would suggest.
As the transfer window edges toward its conclusion, all eyes at Ibrox will remain fixed on exactly how these situations resolve themselves. A concrete offer for Raskin, should one arrive and prove acceptable to the club, would likely move quickly given the level of interest already reported from elsewhere in Europe, while Gassama’s immediate future may hinge on whether his pre-season struggles prove to be a temporary blip or a more permanent decline in form. Bajrami’s apparent reprieve, meanwhile, offers an intriguing case study in how quickly a player’s standing within a squad can change once a new head coach begins to assess things for himself rather than simply inheriting the assumptions of his predecessor. Taken together, these three situations paint a picture of a Rangers squad still being actively shaped and reshaped even as the new season approaches, with McInnes clearly prepared to make bold calls in both directions, bringing players in when he sees an opportunity to strengthen the team, and moving others on when their continued presence no longer serves the collective good of the group he is building. Supporters will simply have to wait and see exactly how many of these situations are resolved before the transfer deadline finally arrives, and what kind of squad McInnes ultimately ends up with once the dust has settled on one of the busiest windows in recent Ibrox memory.
