Ajax have identified Rangers’ Calvin Bassey as a target to replace Manchester United bound Lisandro Martínez.
Algemeen Dagblad explain the defender’s asking price is set at €25m and he is wanted by Brighton & Hove Albion. The Seagulls are prepared to make efforts to sign him this summer.
With the Eredivisie winners and Brighton chasing the centre-back, a move away from Ibrox could soon be on the cards after Giovanni van Bronckhorst left him out of the squad for the friendly tie against Blackpool on Saturday.
The Rangers player has a broad agreement with the Amsterdam club and has held talks with their manager, Alfred Schreuder.
Ajax are ‘approaching an agreement’ with Rangers after they made an improved offer, but the transfer is ‘not a foregone conclusion’ because the Dutch champions don’t yet have a ‘full agreement’ with Van Bronckhorst’s side.
Brighton remain hopeful to benefit from this situation. Despite this, Graham Potter’s side expect the Nigeria international ‘will soon sign’ for Ajax. It is not excluded that the defender could join his new teammates in Austria next week.
Rangers view Bassey as their best player, according to the claims, and are not ready to ‘tamper too much’ with his asking price.
Arsenal took Kieran Tierney from their arch-rivals Celtic for €27m three years ago. Ajax will not pay the same fee for the Nigerian, but AD state it will probably be close to this.
Despite a lack of total agreement between the two sides, there seems to be optimism from Ajax that they can reach a solution with Rangers to sign Bassey.