Giovanni van Bronckhorst could be about to lose another one of his Europa League stand-outs as Ajax and Brighton gear up for a £25m battle for Calvin Bassey.
Record Sport understands the Premier League clubs and the Dutch big guns are leading the chase for the 22-year-old and could be about to test the strength of Rangers ' resolve by weighing in with big money offers for the Nigerian international. Countryman Joe Aribo moved to Southampton in a £10m deal earlier this month - after scoring in the historic Seville showdown with Eintracht Frankfurt in May.
But Bassey was Van Bronckhorst ’s top performer on the night and just yesterday the Gers boss pleaded with him to stay at Ibrox to continue his development for at least one more season. It remains to be seen how determined the Dutchman will be to hold onto his man if, as expected, Brighton and Ajax follow up their initial interest with hard cash offers. Rangers are believed to have slapped a price tag of around £25m on Bassey’s head but that’s not expected to scare either club off.
In fact, Ajax have been on a recent spending spree and are on the brink of raking in £46m from the imminent sale of left sided centre-back Lisandro Martinez to Manchester United. Brighton meanwhile are believed to be asking for more than £50m for Spanish defender Marc Cucurella amid interest from Manchester City.
With both clubs preparing to sanction massive sales, Bassey’s name has shot to the top of their priority targets. Bassey was lured north from Leicester in 2020 by former boss Steven Gerrard for a cut price fee of less than £300,000, but he became a first team mainstay - operating equally impressively at left back and centre half - after Van Bronckhorst replaced Gerrard in the hotseat midway through last season.
And the Rangers boss said during the club’s pre-season training camp in Portugal: “Bassey is a player at the beginning of his career but also a player who is open to coaching. He wants to develop himself, and hopefully we can have him longer here because his development needs to be a couple of years more before he reaches the level that he will be comfortable to get into a new team.
"You never know what will happen. I am more than happy to help Bassey in his development, and to make sure he comes to reach a level where everyone will say ‘Well, the best thing for him is to move on’.”
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