Nicolas Raskin 2021/22: The Liège born midfielder linked with a move to Leeds United – scout report

Though it took longer than initially expected, Nicolas Raskin has become a standout player for his boyhood club. Born in the city of Liège, Raskin started his youth career at Standard Liège. However, his first-team breakthrough instead came at Gent, where, at the age of 16, became the youngest player to feature in the Belgian Pro League born in the 21^st century. Finally, in 2019, Raskin moved back to Standard and has been a key player for them since, with a few big clubs, most notably Leeds United of the Premier League, sniffing around this winter transfer window.

This tactical analysis and scout report will look at what makes Raskin such a good midfielder player, and illustrate why clubs like Leeds are interested in signing him now.

Positioning overview

Raskin is very much a deep-lying playmaker, as the heat map above shows. He does not really get involved in either of the 18-yard boxes, rather, he prefers to stay in the middle third of the pitch, where he can use his great range of passing to spray passes to teammates anywhere on the field. He likes to roam vertically from touchline to touchline, using his excellent ability in 1v1 duels to help win the ball back for his side.

Different types of passes in his locker

What Nicolas Raskin does really well in his deep-lying playmaker role is his ability to spray passes anywhere on the pitch. Whether it is a long diagonal to pick out a teammate on the opposite side of the pitch, a through ball to play a teammate into space, or a simple three-yard pass, Raskin has all of them in his locker. Through this seasons Pro League so far, Raskin has attempted, on average, 37.75 passes per 90 with an 82.1% success rate. He also attempts 2.43 long passes per 90 with a 55.3% success rate. As the examples below will show, the diversity in Raskin’s passing make him a tricky player to close down, as he could surprise everyone with the passes he can sometimes make.