RANGERS CONFIDENTIAL: Ibrox standout destined for a big move – if he can add goals to his game … and will winger Cortes finally get the chance to show he is worth the wait?

Nico Raskin has picked up his first couple of caps for Belgium. He is being linked with a lucrative move away from Rangers in what will surely be a summer clearout at the underperforming Ibrox outfit.

However, there is one thing the 24-year-old accepts he has to improve upon before his future is decided in the summer – adding to his goal tally and his all-round numbers.

Raskin operates primarily as a defensive midfielder, but is disappointed at having scored only twice during the current campaign and accepts he has to work on his finishing and his level of surety in goalscoring situations if he is to take his career to the next level.

‘I have missed some goals with my feet and I should score more,’ he said. ‘I want to score more, I want to add that.

‘I have been in the box sometimes and I need to be a bit calmer to score in that situation and to add some stats.’

Raskin’s two goals – one of which came in Rangers’ 3-0 Old Firm victory at Celtic Park in January – have come from headers and he admits that he has been lobbying interim manager Barry Ferguson to let him become more involved in set-pieces and show his strength.

Raskin started for Belgium in their 3-0 Nations League win over Ukraine last month

‘I have been fighting to be allowed to go up for corners because I know I jump high and have good timing,’ he told the official match programme.

‘Everybody is used to playing against big and tall guys and maybe they just think: “Let’s pick the big ones” – and they forget about me.

‘But when you score two, three or four goals, they start to look more, so I’ll need to be a bit more creative with the boys.’ 

Will winger Cortes finally get the chance to show his worth? 

One of the reasons the American takeover of Rangers is such a drawn-out affair is the need for the prospective buyers to do their due diligence.

From directors’ loans to players’ contracts, it’s only natural that those who are about to move in know exactly what they are dealing with before they purchase a majority stake.

You can only imagine then that there was a certain degree of trepidation when the lawyers began to chew over Rangers’ obligation to buy Oscar Cortes from Lens for £4m this summer.

Cortes has struggled for fitness since joining Rangers on loan ahead of a permanent move

There is no question that the Colombian winger has talent. That was evident in his first initial Ioan spell at the club from January 2024.

But the injuries which blighted that initial time in Glasgow did raise question marks about the wisdom of Philippe Clement pressing ahead with a subsequent one-year loan ahead of a permanent transfer this summer.

With just seven appearances to his name to date this term, Rangers were beginning to experience buyer’s remorse even before they’d parted with their cash.

There will be considerable relief all round, then, that Cortes is not only back in full training but made the bench in the recent games against Dundee and Hibernian.

‘Thank God, I’m training alongside the team,” he told a radio station.

“I’ve been training with my team-mates for a month now.

‘I’m fine and I feel good, which is the most important thing for getting playing time.

“The intention is to recover well from injury, be able to play, and get minutes.

“I’m learning a lot now. This injury taught me a lot, a lot of things I need to do and learn here.

‘I’ve focused a lot on that, also on working outside of team training, and that’s helped me feel much better. I’m on the right track.”

Clement didn’t stick around long enough to see if Cortes could be the asset he believed he could be. At least he no longer looks like being a complete liability for whoever is in charge next season. It’s one less thing for the American consortium to concern themselves with.

Rangers may live to regret the day young striker Wilson walked away  

The loss of talented young academy products before they have so much as flirted with the first team is a problem for even the biggest Scottish clubs.

Rangers and Celtic are not immune to the trend that has seen precocious teenagers hoovered up by English giants almost as soon as their potential emerges.

Since Rory Wilson’s £400,000 move from Rangers to Aston Villa when he was 16, he has backed up the 49 goals he scored in his final season in the Ibrox youth system.

Teenage striker Rory Wilson’s value has soared since he left Rangers for Aston Villa

The Girvan-born goal machine has netted 36 in 53 games at under-18 and under-21 level for the Midlands club, where some have described him as the best young talent since Jack Grealish.

The 19-year-old striker has become such a sought-after commodity that he felt able to turn down the offer of a five-year deal with Villa, prompting talk of a lucrative move abroad.

But, with his existing contract soon to expire, talks with his current employer resumed last month and it was announced this week that a deal had been struck.

While Villa did not release the details, it is understood that Wilson has agreed a two-year contract, with the option of a further 12 months. The hope will be that he has made an impact on the first team by then.

If he does, he will be another Rangers star who got away, like Billy Gilmour before him. In this day and age, nobody expects Scottish clubs to compete with their EPL equivalents, but developing players for the benefit only of someone else is a thankless business.

Make or break time for Rangers women head coach Potter  

Jo Potter, the head coach of Rangers’ women, is gearing up for a four-match sequence that could make or break their dream of a domestic treble.

Two points off the pace in the SWPL table, her second-placed side have a mouth-watering clash with fourth-placed Celtic at Broadwood on Sunday.

Rangers women head coach Jo Potter is chasing down a domestic treble

Not only would a victory leave their rivals trailing badly in the title race, it would set Rangers up nicely for a week in which they also play leaders Hibs and third-placed Glasgow City.

With Aberdeen to come in the Scottish Cup semi-final a week later, it is an exciting time for Potter’s side, who have already won this season’s Sky Sports Cup.

Unbeaten in 11 games since the turn of the year, Rangers will be favourites to win Sunday’s game. They have lost only once to their city rivals in eight derbies since Elena Sadiku became the Celtic coach 15 months ago.

Nothing to fear for away teams at Ibrox after Rangers’ RECORD five home losses in a row

Remember when they used to say that back-to-back defeats amounted to a crisis at Rangers? Well, what does that make five consecutive home losses? Or the concession of at least two goals in six straight league games?

Those are the eye-watering statistics that interim manager Barry Ferguson is wrestling with in the wake of Hibs’ 2-0 victory at Ibrox on Saturday. Is there a word that does it justice in the Old Firm’s melodramatic vocabulary?

‘Unprecedented’ perhaps. Never before have Rangers lost five home games in a row. And Queen Victoria was on the throne when they last conceded two or more goals in half a dozen straight league outings.

Hibs were the latest visiting team to silence Ibrox, winning 2-0 last weekend

When it comes to beating goalkeeper Jack Butland, it has become quite the free-for-all. In recent weeks, St Mirren, Motherwell, Hibs and Celtic have all done it twice in the same game, while Dundee and Celtic have managed three.

Worryingly for Ferguson, that home record has the potential to get worse, and not just because the next visitors to Ibrox are Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Europa League quarter final on Thursday night.

Any kind of team would relish a trip to Ibrox right now. Morale is low among these Rangers players, confidence is fragile and supporters are ready to make their feelings known at the earliest opportunity.

Former Rangers and Hibs midfielder Kevin Thomson admitted as much the other day when he suggested that Ferguson’s players had not been mentally strong enough to cope.

‘If opposition teams come to Ibrox and they think there’s a bit of fear there, there’s a bit of animosity, they breed on that, they live on it,’ Thomson said. ‘That’s what they want. That’ll be the manager’s team talks. I’ve sat in the opposition dressing room.

‘Can you silence the crowd? Can you stay in the game? All the old cliches you can see and unfortunately for the last five games at home, the players have not been able to handle that.’

Europa League finalists will get 15,000 tickets each, and optimistic Ibrox fans can apply now! 

Optimistic Rangers fans can now apply for Europa League Final tickets and UEFA have revealed the Ibrox side would get an allocation of 15,000 if they made it through.

Rangers face a huge challenge against in-form Athletic Bilbao, who have lost just one La Liga game since the start of October – this week in the quarter finals at Ibrox.

If they were to negotiate that challenge, they would be just one round away from what would be their second final appearance in four years in the Europa League.

The final will be held on May 21 in Spain at the San Mames home of Rangers’ opponents this week, Athletic Bilbao and ticket arrangements have now been announced.

All fans are invited to apply for a lottery for the finals, but both finalists will be allocated 15,000 briefs each of the 49,600 capacity for the final.

All fans are invited to apply for a lottery for the finals, but both finalists will be allocated 15,000 briefs each of the 49,600 capacity for the May 21 final.

Athletic Bilbao’s San Mames stadium will host the Europa League final on May 21

And prices will begin at £34 for tickets in UEFA’s ‘Fans First’ section, with four different categories. The top category price is £206.

UEFA have revealed a total of 11,000 tickets will go into the lottery.

They stated: “A total of 41,000 tickets out of 49,600 are available directly for fans and the general public to purchase.

“The two teams that reach the final may receive up to 15,000 tickets each, while the remaining tickets are being offered for sale directly to fans worldwide.”