Nicolas Raskin, a name that will send most Celtic fans into a spiral of sarcasm, anger and — let’s admit it — a not-so-secret admiration. After all, it takes a particular level of enduring mediocrity to sport the number 43 jersey for our dear competitors down the road, Rangers. Born in Belgium on a crisp February day in 2001, Raskin now finds himself gallivanting around the midfield in the Scottish Premiership like he owns the place.
The young midfielder might be only 23 years of age, but he carries himself with the same self-assured arrogance you'd expect from your stereotypical hotshot player. His height? Oh, Raskin measures a rather ordinary 5ft 10in (for our metrically inclined friends, that’s a whole 1.78m). And like anyone truly invested in their career in professional football, he tips the scales at a modest 11st 9lb (or 74kg, for those fond of decimal-based units).
Now, if you were to ask a leading footballing authority like Transfermarkt about Raskin’s worth, they’d probably grumble something about it being in the region of £5.5m. It makes you question the meaning of 'value', doesn't it? To top it off, his stint with Glasgow’s second-best team (wink, wink) is not set to end anytime soon, what with his contract looming over us until at least May 2027.
Before his illustrious move to Rangers (for a laughable fee of around £1.5m, might I add), Raskin had been pushing his luck with Gent and Standard Liege back in Belgium. You’ve got to give it to him though, he's consistent — if consistently mediocre in front of goal is your thing. One solitary goal in 29 appearances in consecutive seasons with Standard Liege, evidently enough to have our friends at Rangers clambering over themselves to bring him to Scotland. His performance for the Rangers has been, to put it kindly, rather lacklustre so far.
Here we stand, in the cold light of the 2024-2025 season, with Raskin dancing about in the same old dull rhythm, nothing new to see here. Next season, the lad could work a bit more on finding the back of the net, but that's just a humble suggestion from a rival supporter. Remember, this is the player who can tout his stints in the League Cup and Europa League, with a reputation for being more likely to warm the bench than burn up the pitch.
