Glasgow Rangers manager, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, is keen on seeing star defender, Calvin Bassey, remain at the club despite mounting interest from top European clubs such as Dutch giants Ajax and Premier league side, Brighton.
The Super Eagles defender is on the radar of the Dutch champions as replacement for out of the door defender, Lisandro Martinez, who is set to join Manchester United this summer.
Bassey had become a hot commodity in Europe after his impressive performance in the final of the 2021/22 Europa League for Rangers despite losing to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Ajax has identified the Nigerian as a replacement for Martinez who is on the verge of joining Manchester United for £46m.
According to reports in Scotland, Rangers have valued the defender for £25m, a price the Dutch side may be unwilling to pay leaving the door open to other interested teams – especially in the Premier League.
TalkSPORT’s football correspondent Alex Crook believes the Dutch club would prefer to pay a fee in the region of £15-20m for Bassey who is expected to fill in automatically for Martinez in either central or left back position.
However, van Bronckhorst, who is hoping to keep the defender for longer to help him develop into a more complete footballer has conceded that the club may find it difficult to hold on to the player due to intense demands from bigger clubs.
“I am more than happy to help Bassey in his development and to make sure he comes to reach a level where everyone will say the best thing for him is to move on,” van Bronckhorst told Daily Record.
“He wants to develop himself, and hopefully we can have him longer here because his development needs to be a couple of years more before he reaches the level that he will be comfortable to get into a new team.”
“You never know what will happen. The potential Bassey has is massive, that is potential also other teams will notice he has. The club is a winner because we developed him and we will get a transfer fee.”