Nicolas Raskin will miss Rangers’ Scottish Premiership clash with Hearts as Russell Martin tells him he has to regain “trust” at the club.
The head coach has confirmed he will not be in the squad for tomorrow’s match at Ibrox despite returning to first-team training after international duty with Belgium.
Raskin was left out of the squad to face Celtic last month and has not been a regular starter under Martin, despite being one of Rangers’ stand-out players last season.
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Raskin was left out of the Rangers squad for their goalless draw with Celtic.
That came after Raskin was also omitted from the first leg Champions League qualifying victory over Viktoria Plzen because Martin felt he had been affected by transfer speculation around his future.
“He won’t be in the squad tomorrow,” the head coach said.
“We have a lot of conversations as we do with every player, but he’s back training with the squad which is a good step.
“Now, like every player, he has a duty to make sure he earns the trust of all his other team-mates, coaching staff and the staff in the building to help us win football matches.
“It’s the same for every player here.
Nicolas Raskin has retuned to first team training at Rangers
“The most important thing is Nico knows why, the players know why and we all move forward and we have to win football matches now.
“He’s part of a squad in training that needs to help that and put himself back in the squad and the team to help us win matches.
“It’s never a personal thing, it’s always professional. My job is to do what I feel is best for the team, for the club.
“It’s not about me, it’s not about Nico, it’s about everyone. We’ve got a really good group now, a really good squad, we’re so happy with it.”
‘We’ve hit the reset button’
Youssef Chermiti and Derek Cornelius joined Rangers on deadline day (credit: Rangers FC)
Rangers are yet to win a Premiership game and return from the international break sitting seventh in the table.
Martin insists it is a fresh start for them against Hearts.
“After the transfer window shut, I think we’re in such a stronger position and I’m really excited about what this group can go on and achieve now,” he said.
“I think we have to win football matches, it’s as simple as that. Fans will be happy if the team is winning matches and playing in a way that they’re enjoying, and we have to get to that as quickly as we possibly can.
“I’m confident we’ll start winning football matches with the squad that we have.
“Things can change very much by winning tomorrow. We have to start winning – for us, for everyone – for the work to really start coming to fruition and to lighten the load a little bit.
“We’re doing everything we can to try and win football matches.
“We’ve hit the reset button over the window, everything has settled down and the season has to start here for us.”
