NICO RASKIN says he’s raring to go this season after marking his return to the pitch and believes the best is yet to come in his Rangers career.
The 23-year-old suffered a blow in pre-season when he was forced off inside the first-half of the Light Blues’ friendly clash against Ajax in the Netherlands.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Raskin who, having missed a chunk of last season’s action, forced his way into Philippe Clement’s team towards the end of the campaign.
Speaking to RangersTV after playing his first minutes of the season last time out, the midfielder said: “I was a bit sad when I got injured because I felt it wasn’t a necessary tackle, but at the same it was a little bit of bad luck; the pitch was dry and my feet got stuck in the ground.
“I knew directly something was wrong, but I’ve been working hard on every aspect to come back, be fit, and hopefully I’ll be fit for as long as I can.
“To be fair, I was happy when I got the diagnosis in a way because, at first, I thought it would be a massive injury due to the way my ankle was swelling.
“A few months earlier I had an injury on the same ankle, but when the result came I was quite happy.
“From there, I focussed on the rehab and other aspects such as eating and sleeping good to prepare my body for the comeback.
“I was really happy when I came back. I could show myself at the end of last season when we played.
“I decided to make a huge preparation at home, taking two weeks from my four-week holiday to work twice per day and get ready for pre-season.
“I was in a good shape, happy, and I had no problems with my body. But then this tackle came and I was quite sad because I had put in so much effort. I thought ‘not again’.
“I actually think the injury that I just had will help for the rest of my career because I could do some different work and make my body better for the next year coming.”
Raskin joined the club in January 2023 and has experienced several highs and lows along the way.
He was only 21 years old when he made the switch from his boyhood club at Standard Liege, arriving in a different environment where he was forced to adapt quickly.
He continued: “It’s difficult to move to another country, especially when it’s your first move.
“Playing at home with your whole family and friends, as well as the fact that you’re never bored at home, is different.
“But when you move and you’re alone or with your girlfriend, you can be really bored at home.
“The whole life is different and you need to adapt and find a way to enjoy life outside of football. It took a bit of time and I’m much more happy now.
“That’s part of my happiness now because I can interact much more with everyone.
“It’s easy for people to say you have good English when you leave your home and come to a country with a different language, but when it comes to having a laugh with players and joining in on jokes, it can be difficult for players coming from abroad.
“And when someone makes a joke you cannot just pause and ask them to explain, so it makes life much more difficult.
“There are many different aspects. It’s why often players will need time to adapt, but there’s no time in football and we need to go on and do our best.”
Rangers return to league action tomorrow lunchtime as they make the trip north to face Dundee United at Tannadice.
Raskin says the side are determined to put the disappointment of their previous league outing behind them.
He added: “Did the international break come at a good time for the team? I think so.
“We didn’t have a good game in our last match, so it was a good moment to re-focus the team and look back at the game.
“We had to talk about things in the last match and we had some good discussions.
“I think now we have to look forward and in the same direction to push ourselves to the best.
“We’ve been working hard for two weeks, so now it’s up to us to start good against Dundee United and make the best of it game-by-game.
“It’s up to us to create connections much more and to fight for each other, especially in the big games.
“If someone makes a mistake then it can and will happen, and we need to try and recover the ball for him.
“I think we need to look forward now and try to do our best every week.”
RangersTV subscribers can watch the full interview with Nico Raskin and more here.