In a season of ups and downs, one shining light on a somewhat confusing season was that of Calvin Bassey’s emergence as an absolute powerhouse of a defender, the early mistakes that plagued his fledgling Rangers career being almost entirely eliminated from his game.
His athleticism seemed to give him the edge in the SPFL and defending higher up the park suited his aggressive style, however, it was in the Europa League where he really made his mark.
Being able to shift between centre-half in a two-man pairing to the left-sided centre-half in a back three to left-back or left-wing back, each with consummate ease and enthusiasm, dhows exactly why so many top flight clubs are said to be interested in him but it also explains why his value has soared.
Ar the start of the season, potential alone would have set his price tag given how few was the number of senior games that he had played, now though, Rangers are said to be looking for £25million plus to even entertain sitting at the negotiating table.
On Transfermarkt Rangers squad is valued considerably higher than Celtic’s and it’s no wonder with players like Bassey, who is now a key player for Nigeria, seeing his price tag rise from £900,000 to £9m on the data driven website.
What Bassey has shown is that there are bargains to be had in England if you do your homework and nobody had even the slightest inclination of his signing before it was announced – a few more like this one would be welcome but I’m not sure Rangers fans can wait much longer.