Rangers midfielder Nicolas Raskin has been backed for a starting place with the Belgian national team. That’s despite his struggles at Ibrox under Russell Martin.
Belgian football manager Felice Mazzu, speaking on the Footb’all Time podcast, has backed the Rangers midfielder.
Raskin has had a difficult start to the season at Rangers thanks to a public fall out with Russell Martin.
He was originally in the squad for their Champions League qualifying campaign and the start of the Scottish Premiership season. He was then left out of the squad for games against Celtic and Hearts after a very public disagreement with Martin.
That didn’t affect his participation with Belgium, though, who had him in their squad for the last international break. He sat on the bench for the win over Liechtenstein but played 70 minutes and got a goal in the subsequent win over Kazakhstan.
Raskin remains popular in his home country despite his situation at Rangers and Mazzu believes he could be in the first team more moving forwards.
“Belgium can’t position players to defend, but they have to position players to attack,” he said.
“So Raskin is a ball player, a player who makes others play. And so, I would give Raskin my preference if I were a national coach, but I’m not because I end up being a national coach and not a coach.
“So, I don’t know if everything I say ultimately makes sense, but I’ll say it anyway. Yes, he could, he could obviously be a starter for the national team.”
