Ibrox View: Rangers new boy Calvin Bassey is showing signs of promise already
Rangers new boy Calvin Bassey has a fairly unenviable task on his hands at Ibrox.
The young left-back will have to displace Borna Barisic if he is to gain regular first team minutes this season, and few people will realistically give him much chance of doing that anytime soon.
Still, the starlet has been slowly edging his way into Steven Gerrard’s plans, and there have been positive signs from him already.
Bassey played 36 minutes against Dundee United on Saturday, and he looked bright enough.
In his cameo, he registered the same amount of attempted dribbles as Barisic did over an hour, as well as having a pass accuracy that was 4% better, as per Wyscout.
But it was one run in particular that really caught the eye.
The first thing to notice here is the position that Bassey takes up even prior to gaining possession.
He’s high and wide, stretching the defence and essentially acting like a second winger.
As soon as he gets on the ball, his first thought is to drive forwards.
He gets his head up and he isn’t afraid to run headlong into a forest of bodies.
Some might view that as recklessness, but the reality is that the full-back has the talent to back up his adventurous nature.
Bassey possesses wonderful natural strength and pace, but also has a quick footballing brain and equally nimble feet.
That recipe allows him to slalom through defenders at will, and as you can see from the image above, he cuts four opponents out of the game with his sudden burst of directness.
In the end, the only thing that lets him down is an unfortunate loss of balance that allows the last man to get a foot in.
Were it not for that, this could have been the sort of solo effort that Ryan Kent would have been envious of.
Of course, Bassey is far from the finished article, and he still has some way to go before he usurps Barisic, but make no mistake, we’ve got a player on our hands here.
In other Rangers news, Exclusive: Alex McLeish claims Rangers boss Gerrard needs to win a trophy this season.