Let’s be blunt: someone being a Belgium international doesn’t suddenly make them a better fit for Rangers. International caps are fine for ego and future market talk, but they don’t directly improve club performances. You can’t play a country badge on the pitch.

International status ≠ club impact

People keep bringing up Belgium as if that settles the argument. It doesn’t. If a player isn’t going to displace the likes of McTominay, Gilmore or McGinn in the pecking order for that sort of midfield role, what’s the point? And if he’s not even ahead of Lewis Ferguson, then Scotland selection looks shaky too. Caps are not a performance metric you can use mid‑season to demand minutes.

Depth, roles and the awkward truth

Think about roles rather than badges. Midfield is about shape, pressing, recovery runs and how a player fits the manager’s system. A foreign cap might hint at quality, but it won’t fix a player’s positional shortcomings or lack of tempo. If our options in one position are arguably better than his, that’s not a mark against Rangers – it’s a comment on Belgium’s depth in that spot.

On transfer fees and judging success

All the chat about transfer fees and sell‑on value is future nonsense until the player proves himself on the park for us. Call it what you like: if Raskin doesn’t help deliver a title, it looks like a flop regardless of how many caps he has. If we win the league, the narrative changes and you can argue it was a shrewd move. If we don’t, the fee becomes a heavy weight for supporters to swallow.

To be fair, fans are allowed to judge. International status is a talking point, not a guarantee. The truth is simple: performances at Ibrox matter more than foreign badges. And yes, transfer fee aside, if Raskin fails to help win the title he’ll be remembered as a costly mistake rather than a coup.

Written by SixteenNinety: 15 June 2026

Tags: transfers match-review tactics