West Ham are reportedly ‘keeping tabs’ on Rangers defender Calvin Bassey having failed to sign the ace in 2020.
The 22-year-old opted to head north of the border following a spell in the academy at Leicester City.
Since arriving in Glasgow, Bassey has impressed in 44 outings and played a part in the Scottish Premiership win in 2020/21.
Speaking to Football Insider, former Scotland manager Alex McLeish suggested that the young defender has many of the attributes to make the grade in the Premier League.
But he is a young man. What he does have for the Premier League is power. We’ve seen it so many times before where you think: ‘He’ll never do it in the Premier League,’ and then it goes to Premier League and he does it. People think: ‘Hang on a minute, we thought Scottish football was below that level. Then all of a sudden you see a guy going down there and plundering it. I think there’s still more to come from him. Getting a regular game for Rangers would help, as long as he eliminates the mistakes, he is good going forward but his first job is defending. You have to not give the opposition one sniff of a chance. If he gets that right, he’s definitely got the power, the speed and probably the mindset to play in England. English teams do like tall, strong players.
This season Bassey – described as a ‘rough diamond’ by Steven Gerrard – has provided three assists in 29 appearances across all competitions.
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Valued at £900,000 and under contract at Ibrox until 2024 (Transfermarkt), signing Bassey would appear to be a wholly viable financial option.
Capable of operating either as a left-back or central defender, David Moyes would no doubt welcome the Italy-born starlet to the London Stadium ranks with open arms.
As alluded to by McLeish, Bassey certainly has the physical attributes to make the adaptation and a move to West Ham could be the perfect landing point.
