Nicolas Raskin’s Departure Could Unlock A Lewis Ferguson Reunion At Ibrox
more significant role in Rangers’ summer business than simply representing one departure among many, with growing suggestions that his expected exit from Ibrox could be the very thing that determines whether Derek McInnes is able to land one of his more ambitious midfield targets. The player in question is Lewis Ferguson, the Bologna midfielder and Scotland international whose situation in Italy has increasingly been linked with a potential return to his homeland, and specifically with a reunion with a manager who knows him well from their time working together previously.
Raskin himself appears to be approaching the end of his time at Ibrox, with his departure looking increasingly likely following a 2026 World Cup campaign that significantly raised his profile and, by extension, his market value. The Belgian midfielder’s tournament performances have not gone unnoticed, and with interest reportedly emerging from LaLiga sides in the form of Real Betis and Villarreal, Rangers appear to be preparing for the reality that keeping hold of him through the coming season may no longer be realistic. For a club that has already been busy reinforcing its engine room this summer, the prospect of losing a player of Raskin’s quality might ordinarily be viewed as a setback. But the financial mechanics of a sale of this magnitude could end up working significantly in Rangers’ favour when it comes to pursuing further additions elsewhere.
That’s precisely where Ferguson enters the equation. The 25-year-old has endured a difficult period in Italy recently, struggling for regular game time at Bologna despite his undoubted quality and his continued involvement with the Scotland national team. For a player of his profile and ambition, prolonged spells on the periphery of a first-team squad are rarely sustainable long-term, and it’s increasingly being suggested that a return to Scottish football, and specifically a reunion with McInnes at Ibrox, might represent the ideal solution to reignite his career at a stage when regular football matters more than ever.
The historical relationship between Ferguson and McInnes is significant here, and it’s easy to understand why Rangers would view him as an attractive target given that existing familiarity. A manager working with a player he has previously overseen removes much of the uncertainty that typically surrounds a big-money signing, offering McInnes a level of confidence in exactly what he’d be getting, both in terms of footballing qualities and personality within the dressing room. That kind of pre-existing relationship often smooths the path for a transfer in ways that pure scouting reports and video analysis simply cannot replicate, and it’s clearly a factor feeding into Rangers’ evident ambition regarding this particular pursuit.
However, ambition and feasibility are not always the same thing, and it’s on this point that a note of caution has been sounded by those closely watching the Scottish game. Former Rangers goalkeeper Cammy Bell, speaking on the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast, was candid in his assessment of where things currently stand, suggesting that while every Rangers supporter would relish the prospect of seeing Ferguson in light blue, the reality of completing such a deal looks difficult under present circumstances. Bell’s view was that the whole situation hinges heavily on developments elsewhere in the squad, specifically what happens with Raskin. Does he ultimately stay at the club, or does his departure go through as expected? And crucially, if he does leave, can Rangers secure a fee substantial enough to make a move for a player of Ferguson’s calibre genuinely viable? Bell’s overall conclusion was that while he would view a Ferguson arrival as an excellent piece of business for Rangers, he currently sees it as sitting just beyond the club’s reach.
That assessment isn’t simply a matter of pessimism for its own sake — it reflects the practical financial realities that shape recruitment even at a club with the resources and ambition Rangers currently possess. Ferguson would not arrive cheaply. A player of his profile, still relatively young, established at international level, and previously plying his trade in Serie A, would command a significant transfer fee, one that likely sits well beyond what Rangers could comfortably absorb through conventional summer transfer budgeting alone. This is where the Raskin situation becomes so central to the entire narrative. Reports suggest that Rangers’ ownership, with reference to chairman Andrew Cavenagh’s involvement in overseeing the financial side of the club’s operations, are looking to secure north of £20 million from any sale of the Belgian midfielder. Should that valuation be met, and should the deal go through as anticipated, it would hand Rangers a substantial war chest, potentially freeing up precisely the kind of resources that would be required to make a serious and credible move for Ferguson.
In other words, Raskin’s departure isn’t simply a loss to be absorbed and moved past — it’s increasingly being framed as the financial mechanism through which an entirely different, and arguably more ambitious, piece of transfer business could be made possible. It’s a dynamic that will be familiar to followers of modern football, where major signings are so often enabled not by simple cash injections from ownership, but by the strategic recycling of funds generated through player sales elsewhere in the squad. Rangers appear to be positioning themselves for exactly that kind of scenario, patiently waiting to see how the Raskin situation resolves before committing further resources to the Ferguson pursuit.
There’s also a broader context worth considering when it comes to Ferguson’s situation specifically, beyond simply the financial mechanics on Rangers’ side. His recent struggles for regular football at Bologna raise a natural question about his own motivations and willingness to consider a move away from Serie A. Players who find themselves marginalised at clubs across continental Europe don’t always view a return to Scottish football as a step up, given the financial and profile disparities that can exist between leagues. But Ferguson’s case may be somewhat different, given his strong existing connection to Scottish football through his international commitments, and given that a return to Ibrox would represent regular first-team football under a manager who knows him well, rather than continuing to fight for scraps of playing time on the fringes of a Bologna squad that appears to have moved past him in its current pecking order.
Adding further intrigue to the situation, Ferguson has reportedly been spotted in the Glasgow area recently, a detail that has inevitably fuelled speculation among supporters eager for any scrap of evidence suggesting a move might be closer than Bell’s more measured assessment would suggest. Sightings of this nature should always be treated with a degree of caution, of course — players can have any number of personal reasons for visiting a particular city that have nothing to do with an impending transfer. But in the context of an already heavily rumoured move, and given the genuine footballing logic underpinning the speculation, it’s understandable that such sightings would generate significant excitement and renewed scrutiny of exactly where negotiations, if any are formally underway, currently stand.
What makes the broader picture even more interesting is the sheer volume of midfield reinforcement Rangers have already conducted this summer, which raises a fair question about exactly how a player like Ferguson would fit into the squad even if the financial obstacles were eventually cleared. McInnes has already added considerably to his engine room over the course of the transfer window, with Dan Neil and Cammy Devlin both arriving to strengthen central midfield options. On top of that, Rangers are on the verge of officially confirming Vanja Dragojević as their seventh summer signing, a deal that has been in the works for some time and adds further quality and leadership to the middle of the park following his exploits captaining FK Partizan. And as if that weren’t enough activity in a single area of the pitch, Rangers have also been strongly linked with Tromsø’s Jens Hjerto-Dahl, a Norway Under-21 international whose signing, were it to be completed, would represent the fourth midfield addition of the summer alone.
That level of squad building in one specific area naturally invites scrutiny. Does a club really need a fifth midfield addition, on top of Neil, Devlin, Dragojević, and potentially Hjerto-Dahl, particularly one that would require the kind of significant fee Ferguson would command? It’s a reasonable question, and it feeds directly into the broader sense, reflected in Bell’s comments, that Rangers may simply be looking at other options rather than actively pursuing Ferguson as a genuine priority target at this moment. The sheer volume of alternative midfield business already conducted this summer suggests a squad that is rapidly approaching, if not already at, saturation point in that particular position, which makes the Ferguson links feel more speculative and aspirational than close to any imminent conclusion.
That said, transfer windows have a habit of shifting rapidly, and circumstances that look distant one week can suddenly accelerate the next, particularly once a domino like Raskin’s departure actually falls into place. Should Raskin’s move to LaLiga be finalised in the coming days or weeks, and should Rangers secure anything close to their reported valuation, the financial picture at Ibrox would shift meaningfully, potentially reopening doors that currently appear closed. McInnes, having already shown considerable appetite for reshaping his midfield options this summer, would then have to weigh up whether adding a player of Ferguson’s specific profile and quality represents a smarter long-term investment than simply banking the proceeds elsewhere or distributing funds across other areas of the squad in greater need of reinforcement.
There’s also the human and relational element to consider, which shouldn’t be understated in transfer speculation of this kind. Ferguson’s prior working relationship with McInnes offers a layer of trust and mutual understanding that can often accelerate negotiations once the financial framework allows serious conversations to begin. Managers frequently prioritise reuniting with players they’ve previously worked with precisely because it reduces the guesswork involved in major signings, and if McInnes genuinely views Ferguson as a player capable of elevating his midfield beyond what Neil, Devlin, and Dragojević already offer, that existing relationship could prove decisive in getting a deal over the line once the numbers make sense.
For now, though, the situation remains exactly as Bell described it: aspirational, logical in footballing terms, but currently sitting just out of reach financially, contingent entirely on how the Raskin saga unfolds in the coming weeks. Rangers supporters will understandably continue to monitor both situations closely, aware that developments in one are directly tied to possibilities in the other. Should Raskin depart for the kind of fee being suggested, the conversation around Ferguson could shift rapidly from wishful thinking to genuine transfer pursuit. Should that sale fail to materialise on the terms Rangers are hoping for, however, it looks increasingly likely that Ferguson will remain simply a name Rangers fans discuss with a sense of what might have been, rather than one that ends up gracing the Ibrox midfield alongside this summer’s other new arrivals.
Either way, the coming weeks promise to be pivotal in shaping exactly how Rangers’ midfield rebuild concludes, with the Raskin situation now standing as the single clearest variable determining whether Ferguson’s reported interest in a return to Scottish football, and McInnes’ evident admiration for a player he knows well, can translate into anything more concrete than speculation and optimism among a fanbase eager to see one of their own return home.
