Premier League trio Arsenal, West Ham United and Aston Villa expressed an interest in Calvin Bassey over the summer but the Ajax defender is failing to live up to his £20 million price-tag with some ‘terrible’ displays for the Eredivisie champions, Dutch legend Johnny Rep tells Het Parool.
Not even Ajax, one of European football’s most renowned talent-spotters, get it right 100 per cent of the time.
For every Frenkie de Jong, Hakim Ziyech and Lisandro Martinez, there is a Mohamed Daramy. For every Antony, David Neres and Arkadiusz Milik, a Maximilian Wober.
Now, it may seem a little harsh to write off Bassey just a few months into his Ajax career. But the fact remains that the 22-year-old former Leicester City youngster already finds himself under the microscope following that big move from Rangers.
A debut red card in the 5-3 defeat to PSV was, it seems, a sign of things to come.
Calvin Bassey in ‘terrible’ form after swapping Rangers for Ajax
“If you pay that money for him, then you are really not feeling well. It is terrible to see him play. In the Eredivisie, there are ten better players than him,” Rep says; Bassey coming in for criticism again as Ajax drop vital points against Vitesse Arnhem and title rivals PSV.
“Bassey is just really funny (to watch),” adds ex-Ajax midfielder Kenneth Perez, joining the pile-on (ESPN). “Defensively, he is good, but very poor on the ball. (He looks like) Bambi on ice.
“That is almost pathetic, because the opponent naturally lets him free (to give the ball away).”
Bassey’s agent revealed to Own Goal Nigeria recently that Arsenal and West Ham looked at the seven-time Nigeria international over the summer. Ditto an Aston Villa side then under the management of former Ibrox boss Steven Gerrard. Bassey, however, opted for Ajax due to the promise of regular first-team football.
That promise, however, would have been made on the proviso that Bassey could build on the all-action displays he produced during Rangers’ stirring run to the Europa League final in May.
Right now, he’s certainly not living up to his end of the bargain.
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