Rangers miss out on millions due to transfer decision

Robin Bairner

• 19 Jul 2023 15:27 BST
• 3 min read

Rangers are set to miss out on a bumper transfer windfall as former defender Calvin Bassey has rejected the opportunity to leave Ajax this summer, according to Algemeen Dagblad.

Several Premier League clubs have made offers for the 23-year-old defender, with Fulham the latest team to launch a bid for the Nigeria international. Ajax have rebuffed the offer of around €17 million, with a fee of €25m the type of sum the Eredivisie side expect for the former Europa League finalist.

MORE: Rangers 2023/24 transfers

Brighton are also thought to be interested in the former Leicester youth player, with The Guardian having reported that they launched a bid worth €23.3 million (£20m) for the player only for it to be knocked back by the Amsterdam outfit.

The Scottish Premiership side are in line to receive a windfall of around 10% of Bassey’s transfer fee – so long as this figure is higher than the one Ajax paid for him, the Rangers Review reports. As such, the Ibrox club stand to miss out on around €2m.

Premier League 2023/24 summer transfers: All the Done Deals

Bassey to reject Fulham move

Any hopes that they might land that this summer have been put on the backburner by reports in the Netherlands that Bassey is not thinking about leaving the club. Instead, he wants to fight for his place at Ajax.

Bassey is convinced that he can become a starter at the Johan Cruijff ArenA.

After arriving at the club last summer, when he signed a five-year deal, he was initially a starter but lost his place when John Heitinga took over from Alfred Schreuder.

He has started pre-season in an unconvincing fashion, meanwhile. On Tuesday, he suffered a clumsy loss of possession in the exhibition game against Shakhtar Donetsk (3-0 win), but his mistake was not punished thanks to a good intervention by Remko Pasveer.

Nevertheless, a departure is not entirely excluded for Bassey, the newspaper writes. However, the central defender-cum-left-back will only consider a transfer if he is told he is surplus to requirements or a much bigger club than Fulham comes along. There is currently no question of either scenario.