Calvin Bassey and the Rangers transfer infatuation that sparked Ajax spying missions

Ajax boss Alfred Schreuder has revealed his £19million plus add-ons swoop for Calvin Bassey had been planned for months after being blown away by his Rangers displays.

The defender completed a move to the Netherlands this week to sign for the Dutch champions after a sensational second half of the season at Ibrox. Bassey's move came out of the blue, with the Amsterdam giants moving quickly to snap up the Nigeria international once their initial interest was confirmed.

However, Schreuder - who only took charge at Ajax in the summer after guiding Club Brugges to the Belgian title - revealed he had Bassey in his mind as soon as he moved to the Netherlands because of his interest in going-ons at Ibrox. He said: "Calvin Bassey didn't just come to my attention because I watched his YouTube videos, I knew all about him for a long time.

"I've been following the fortunes of Rangers for the last six months or so because I have been interested in the Rangers management team. When you have fellow Dutchmen Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Dave Vos as the assistant coach at Rangers, I was always going to watch them.

"So I already knew about him, although our scouting staff certainly knew about him too. He is a very strong defender with a lot of speed. He has developed a lot in the last six months. I think time will show we got this transfer right."

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