Neil McCann played for Rangers during an era when they were blessed with some of the greatest ever midfielders to pull on the light blue jersey. Barry Ferguson, Jorg Albertz, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Claudio Reyna were just some of the stars of the engine during his four-and-a-half years at Ibrox.
In fact, at one point during Dick Advocaat’s successful spell in charge the strength in depth of the midfield options was highlighted by the fact Tugay couldn’t even get a look-in when it was clear the Turkish star signed from Galatasaray was a quality player - something he would get the chance to demonstrate during eight years in the English Premier League with Blackburn Rovers and almost 100 caps for Scotland.
McCann knows better than most what it takes to be a successful midfielder at Rangers, the club where he won nine major honours. And the signing of Nicolas Raskin has made the 48-year-old stand up and take notice. Rangers’ recruitment has been criticised with fans looking for freshness in a squad that still has so many members dating back to the Steven Gerrard era - in some cases even from his first summer in charge in 2018. Fans believe it should be a case of ‘out with the old and with the new’ and in the Belgian they have someone who can lead that new era.
Aged just 22, he’s young. And his style of play is energetic with a vigour that has impressed the fans. Michael Beale’s decision to start him on the bench in the Viaplay Cup final against Celtic raised eyebrows and it was no surprise to see the former Standard Liege man start in the 3-1 win over Kilmarnock as Rangers responded to they Hampden loss.
McCann was impressed as he talked up Raskin on BBC Sportscene. “He’s a player I’ve looked into a wee bit and asked some questions of his time in Belgium, said the former winger. Playing for Standard Liege who have quite a fervent support. I think he can handle the environment.
“He’s the type of player who might be small but you would consider a wiry type of player, he’ll put the foot in. He’ll play the pass and can control the game. He’s a player who can add a lot to Rangers. He’s highly regarded and has something like 50 youth caps through the various age groups with Belgium which is very impressive and the longer he plays in our game over here he’ll understand it. But he’s shown real flashes that the fans will like him and become a key member of that team.”
Raskin replaced Glen Kamara at Hampden while he was preferred to John Lundstram in the weekend win against Kilmarnock. And Raskin offers more in an attacking sense than those with McCann noting: “He likes to get up in the game as well, he’s not just an anchor man. He sees an opportunity to get into space and I really like that from a central midfielder.”
That was demonstrated during the Kilmarnock game when he slipped the ball to Todd Cantwell and surged forward to latch onto the lay-off from Fashion Sakala only for his eventual shot to be blocked.
But that showed his attacking intent and he shows up better than both Kamara and Lundstram in terms of key passes with InStat showing he has made an average of 0.91 compared to 0.24 for the Scouser and 0.32 for the Finn.
His tenacity stands out and, on average, has made more challenges (15) than Lundstram (12) and Kamara (8) and attacking challenges with 7 for the Belgian compared to Lundstram’s 4.3 and Kamara’s 3.9.
Lundstram hasn’t hit the heights he did last season but the Sheffield United was like his old self in the win over Hearts at Tynecastle last month. Rangers return to the capital to face Hibs on Wednesday night but Raskin is almost certain to be on that team sheet at Easter Road.
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