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With Nico Raskin’s admission that he didn’t necessarily rule out signing a new contract at Rangers, Ibrox Noise decided to poll our readers on Nico Raskin Rangers extension.
We wanted to know if the fans en masse would be happy or unhappy to see the Belgian international extend his contract.
It is safe to say that we have produced probably the most one-sided poll result here in Ibrox Noise’s entire history.
An incredible 98% want to keep Nico Raskin.
That is clearly one of the highest and most emphatic one-sided polls that Ibrox Noise has ever carried out and shows the strength of feeling behind keeping the Belgian international and the value it is deemed that he brings to the team.
We all know of his desire to leave. He’s been pretty clear that he wants to take the next step in his career.
But of course, that nearly happened in the summer regarding Besiktas and their loan bid to sign him.
Consequently, he himself was disappointed that that one fell through for reasons he says he doesn’t really know.
But that made it pretty clear that he wants to go if the right chance does surface.
But Rangers fans don’t really care what he thinks. What they care about is keeping their best players, and Raskin, without any doubt, is surely one of Rangers’ best players.
He is certainly one of the biggest assets that the team has, even if as yet no particularly large sides have made their move for him.
But you want to keep your best players.
Raskin was a significant reason at Parkhead why Rangers got that colossal victory over the old rival.
He was extremely strong in that one, as he was against Celtic at Ibrox. But at Parkhead especially, he stood out.
Raskin is a player who can stand up to the big occasion.
He does have a questionable attitude in there on the pitch and can be combustible. But nevertheless, fans want to see that fight and they want to see the quality.
Whether Nico Raskin signing a new Rangers extension would make any difference regarding him staying, we’re not sure.
Often there’s a case where a player will sign a new contract purely to get more of a transfer fee for a bidding side. It protects the owning club from being lowballed.
Raskin’s contract, as we know, is till 2028, so at the moment that isn’t a gigantic risk in terms of a low contract or a low bid transfer fee.
But extending it further would certainly make Raskin a very, very valuable asset.
We could possibly see a contract being extended to 2030. That would make his deal a four-year deal and therefore any suitor club would have to dig deep to sign him.
But the fact that no one has as yet is pretty telling.
Raskin is someone that the fans want to keep. He’s someone that the club wants to keep, and Derek McInnes had completely conceded defeat to losing him and was surprised that he didn’t.
Consequently, it’s a bit of a bonus for these current 5 months (August-December) at least to have Raskin in.
The question is, can Rangers tie him down for longer? And does he want to?
But then, of course, we do know that Raskin had a contract offer over a year ago and refused to sign it, as inferred on social media by his teammate Dujon Sterling.
So it’s a curious angle over the whole thing.
But we do wonder what will happen here on in.
The fans certainly want to keep him.