Calvin Bassey is unlikely to turn his move from Rangers, who have since swapped Giovanni van Bronckhorst with Michael Beale, to Ajax into a ‘grandiose success’ and would likely be better suited playing for a club like Everton.
That’s according to journalist Pieter Zwart, who doubts the centre-back will ever settle at the Amsterdam ArenA as well as he did at Ibrox.
Bassey was one of the stars of the show for Rangers during his two years at the club, establishing himself first under Steven Gerrard and then Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
His impressive performances, particularly in Rangers’ run to the Europa League final last season, earned him attention and eventually Ajax came calling in the summer, securing him in a €23m deal as a replacement for Lisandro Martinez.
Bassey has struggled in the Netherlands since making the switch, with many doubting whether he will ever shine as he did for Rangers.
Zwart is one of those people, praising the defender but claiming that he might be better off moving to a club like Everton if he wishes to get back to his best.
“Ajax need a defender like him. He has speed and can easily defend with spaces at his back,” he wrote in Voetbal International, relayed by MSN.
“He can also win individual duels in big spaces. They have always had players like that too in the person of Davinson Sánchez, Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martínez.
“(But) they have a problem there now, because Calvin Bassey also has some shortcomings that are awkward in the Ajax game. You mainly talk about his build-up qualities, but I am not convinced by his defending in his own sixteen either.
“In defending, he also has unfortunate moments. For someone who is quite tall, he can also head pretty badly. Dutch defenders are trained with being comfortable on the ball. Those qualities are in huge demand in Europe.
“The conclusion of the top European clubs seems to be: that building up is difficult to learn later, so we bring someone in and defending can still be learned later in life. You don’t see the reverse stroke being made as often.
“I keep my doubts. I think he is never really going to be a grandiose success, but Ajax will make money from him. For the style of play of a club like Everton, he is a perfect defender. He also counts as England-trained, so you’re going to grab money for him as Ajax.”
Whether Everton need a player like him in the next transfer window, however, remains to be seen, with Sean Dyche’s first port of call being to help the club avoiding relegation to the Championship.
