Gio van Bronckhorst reveals Rangers crunch talks with Calvin Bassey and admits pride in star's rise to Ajax

Calvin Bassey was closing in on a record-breaking Rangers exit on Saturday night as Gio van Bronckhorst admitted the chances he will leave Ibrox are “very, very high”.

Bassey was absent as Rangers stepped-up their pre-season with a 2-1 over Blackpool at Bloomfield. And van Bronckhorst expects he will again be missing for the friendlies against West Ham and Tottenham with it looking increasingly likely he has played his last game for the club.

Ajax are front of the queue for the Nigeria international with a fee of around €22m plus add-ons understood to have been agreed on Saturday night. And while Brighton are also serious about taking the former Leicester defender back to England it looks as if the Eredivisie giants have won the race for a player signed for just under £300,000 two years ago.

Van Bronckhorst confirmed Rangers would move for a replacement should the 22-year-old - who has two years left on his deal in Govan - finalise his move out of Ibrox in the coming days and weeks. And the Dutchman said: “The chances Calvin will leave are very, very high.

“I don’t think I will have him for this week’s friendlies or the start of the season so that’s why we left him home. There are several clubs. I spoke with Ross and he’s dealing with all the interest. I am concentrated on preparing the team for the last week of friendly games.

“The most important thing is that the club is doing everything in their best interest, and that means we might sell. We heard about the interest in Calvin this week from different clubs. You know that if you have players who perform well the interest will come.

“It went to a level where the club thinks the deal might be happening, so that’s why I spoke to Calvin yesterday and decided to leave