Back in July, Rangers completed a club-record sale when allowing Calvin Bassey to join Ajax in a deal worth £19m.
At the time, it was a sad moment for the Bears, as the Nigeria international was a fan favourite at Ibrox and had just delivered an outstanding display in the Europa League final against Eintracht Frankfurt.
However, the sale is now starting to look like a transfer masterstroke from Rangers.
Rangers come out on top in Calvin Bassey deal
At the time of the transfer, Ajax appeared to have got the upper hand over Rangers, as well as a number of Premier League sides.
It was The Athletic who claimed that Aston Villa wanted Bassey, whereas The Secret Scout revealed Arsenal were keen on his services.
However, the 22-year-old has not enjoyed the best start to life in Amsterdam, and his £19m fee is now starting to make Rangers look very shrewd.
Bassey received a straight red card on his debut for the Dutch giants in the Johan Cruyff Schaal defeat to PSV Eindhoven, as Ajax suffered a heavy 5-3 loss at the start of the campaign.
That meant the Ajax No.3 was unable to make his Eredivisie debut until matchday three, and things haven’t exactly gone swimmingly for Alfred Schreuder in the dugout since as AZ Alkmaar top the Eredivisie table.
Last night, things got even worse. Bassey played 90 minutes as Ajax suffered their biggest ever home defeat in European football, with Napoli scoring six at the Amsterdam Arena to record a 6-1 win.
Rangers must keep finding more like Calvin Bassey
In recent years, both Rangers and Celtic have done well out of plucking promising full-backs from the academies of Premier League sides.
Bassey was pinched from the Leicester youth setup, while Celtic also profited when signing Jeremie Frimpong from Manchester City’s academy before selling him to Bayer Leverkusen for £12m.
Now, Rangers should consider making that their primary transfer strategy, much like Southampton have done in recent times when signing the likes of Tino Livramento, Romeo Lavia, Samuel Edozie and others.
It is a method which can see arrivals contribute to immediate success – like Bassey – while also earning Rangers huge sums of profit.
Hopefully, Giovanni van Bronckhorst can find more gems like the Nigeria international.
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