Rangers will demand Scottish record fee for Calvin Bassey with Aston Villa leading chase
Rangers will demand in excess of the £25million Scottish record to sell Calvin Bassey as they do not want to lose him, Sky Sports reports.
Aston Villa are one of a number of Premier League clubs who have reportedly enquired about the 22-year-old, with ex-Ibrox boss Steven Gerrard keen on a reunion, while there is interest from Germany too.
The Nigerian international was signed from Leicester for £230,000 two years ago, so eclipsing the fee that took Kieran Tierney from Celtic to Arsenal would represent huge profit.
It will apparently take that kind of offer for the Bears to even enter into negotiations over a player who was named in the Europa League team of the season.
The report says: “Sky Sports News has been told Bassey is settled at Ibrox but would be open to talking to Villa about a possible move to the Midlands.
“Rangers have made it clear to every club that has enquired about Bassey that they will not allow him to leave on the cheap and are under no pressure to sell the highly-rated youngster.”
Mega money
It is no surprise that the club don’t want to see Bassey go as he has become a crucial part of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s defence, with strong performances as both a centre-back and left-back this year.
He came into his own on the run to the European final, and interest was inevitable as a result.
If the clubs that are interested are willing to put up record-breaking money then a deal could be done, as one exit could potentially fund a complete overhaul of the squad.
It would certainly represent a blow to the manager, especially as Connor Goldson may be on his way out as well.
But with John Souttar on his way in and the kind of money that the entire Europa League run generated potentially on the table it might be a sensible sacrifice.
If it ends up happening then it could be a transfer where all parties go away happy, but it will take the buyer stumping up the cash to do so.
If interest is as high as is being reported then the likelihood of a bid of that size arriving is increased, but it is reassuring that the club are backing themselves to ensure any exit is worth it on their end.
In other Rangers news, BBC man Tom English makes firm “idiot” claim in his assessment of the club’s standoff with league sponsor cinch.