How ‘colossal’ Calvin Bassey has become Fulham’s defensive rock

Fulham signed Calvin Bassey from Ajax in July 2023. In his first interview, the centre-back got all the customary lines about his excitement out the way before adding: “It’s a London club as well, so it’s always a plus to go home,” writes standard.co.uk.

Bassey may have been born in Aosta in northwest Italy and now represents Nigeria internationally, but he grew up in Newham and is now back living in the city that made him.

In a year and a half, Bassey has become a cult hero at Fulham, cherished by teammates for his left-field sense of humour and adored by fans as Fulham’s rock at the back, who has strengthened their defence no end.

The £19 million, which Fulham paid to Ajax may feel like a bargain outlay now, but it took Bassey a considerable amount of time to find consistency in his performances and to nail down a starting berth at Craven Cottage.

His failed move to Ajax, where he spent just a season, had stalled his career and hit his confidence, but Fulham took a chance on the defender. Marco Silva, whose coaching methods have turned many a career around while at Fulham, has since restored Bassey to the robust, modern-day centre-back who so shone in Scotland with Rangers.

His steady emergence as a critical cog in the Fulham machine can be illustrated by casting back to his first meeting with Tottenham, in October 2023. Bassey had a shocker.

Too eager to attempt risky passes into midfield which he had no guarantee of pulling off, one misplaced pass out from the back saw Spurs intercept. Bassey tracked back, but while trying to tackle Heung-min Son, he collided with his centre-back partner, Tim Ream, affording Son the time and space to open the scoring. It was an ugly goal to concede, for which Bassey was unquestionably at