Nicolas Raskin is set to stay at Rangers after the club rejected [Official Courier Locator] late transfer window approaches from Beşiktaş
Nicolas Raskin will remain a Rangers player for now, after the Ibrox club turned down a string of late offers from Besiktas during a frantic close to the transfer window. The Belgian midfielder had been strongly linked with a move to Istanbul throughout the closing days of the window, but Rangers ultimately blocked every route out, and reports from Turkey and Scotland now suggest neither the club nor the player are looking to reopen talks before January at the earliest.
The saga reached its peak on transfer deadline day, when Besiktas tabled two separate bids in quick succession. An opening proposal structured as a loan with an option to buy was rejected by Rangers, who wanted greater certainty over a permanent fee rather than a deal that could ultimately leave them with nothing. A second, improved offer worth a reported £10.3million then followed — arriving, according to Turkish sources, on Wednesday night and being knocked back on Thursday. Rangers had been holding out for a fee closer to £20million across the summer, making the Besiktas offer well short of their valuation even at its highest point.
Adding a layer of drama to the story, Raskin played the full 90 minutes in Rangers’ 2-1 win away to Falkirk in the midst of the negotiations, even being handed the captain’s armband late in the game — a detail widely read as a signal of manager Derek McInnes’s continued faith in him regardless of the transfer noise around him. Speaking after that match, McInnes addressed his midfielder’s situation directly, saying he believed Raskin would be staying, while being careful to add the usual managerial caveat that he wasn’t the one in ultimate control of the outcome. He confirmed that Raskin had been given the opportunity to leave, but that it wasn’t something the player, or the club, wanted to pursue.
One of the more interesting explanations for why the deal collapsed has come via Turkish reporter Ali Ece, who linked the breakdown in Raskin talks to a separate, seemingly unconnected negotiation over winger Vaclav Cerny. According to Ece, Besiktas had already reached personal terms with Raskin, but the two clubs became stuck in a stand-off over Cerny, whom Rangers were trying to bring back to Ibrox after his hugely popular loan spell in the 2024/25 season. Rangers reportedly offered around £7million for Cerny, while Besiktas held out for closer to £12million; when that fee gap wasn’t bridged, Rangers, in turn, refused to budge on Raskin. Neither club has confirmed this account, and other reporting has suggested the two negotiations were formally unrelated, but the timing meant the two names were repeatedly mentioned in the same breath throughout the window’s final days.
Cerny remains a popular figure among Rangers supporters after scoring 18 goals in 52 appearances during his loan spell, before returning to parent club Wolfsburg and later completing a permanent move to Besiktas. A reunion this summer would have added proven quality to Rangers’ right flank, but the club instead strengthened that area by bringing in Badredine Bouanani on loan from Stuttgart, reducing the urgency to get a Cerny deal over the line at an inflated price.
Besiktas were not the only side credited with interest. Reports also linked Raskin with a move to the Saudi Pro League, with Al Ittihad specifically mentioned as admirers, but Rangers moved to shut down that avenue as well. Sources close to the club indicated that Rangers had no intention of sanctioning a Saudi exit either, given the timing would have left them unable to bring in a replacement with no transfer windows left open elsewhere in Europe. That combination of factors — no like-for-like alternative available, and a fee from Besiktas that fell well short of valuation — appears to have been decisive in Rangers’ thinking.
For McInnes, keeping hold of Raskin represents a significant boost regardless of the noise that surrounded the saga. The 25-year-old has been one of Rangers’ most consistent performers this season, and McInnes has since spoken about wanting Raskin’s experience in central midfield to help the team going forward, while also stressing that every player, Raskin included, needs to train and perform at a high level now that the speculation has died down.
Rangers’ business is expected to remain settled on this front until the January window opens, at which point Raskin’s situation is likely to resurface if a club meets the Ibrox side’s valuation. Until then, McInnes has a key midfielder fully available and reintegrated into his squad — an outcome that, financially frustrating as it may be for those higher up the club structure who would have welcomed the funds, is regarded as a clear net positive for team performance in the short term.
