As the season draws to an end clubs are beginning to take stock of how their players performed during the course of the season, pundits and club legends are not left out as well.
At Dutch club Ajax, the jury is out on Nigeria international defender Calvin Bassey who hasn’t quite lived up to his price tag of around 23 million euros since his move from Scottish side Glasgow Rangers.
Bassey was the star for the team in their run to the Europa League final last season but he has found it really hard to get going in his new surroundings in the Netherlands. His performances have been mixed.
He is now out of favor and has been on the bench for the last three games and even when he has played, he has been deployed at left back and not in the role of center back that he was signed for.
Former Ajax star Rafael van der Vaart says the signing of the left footed defender hasn’t been a success and he wondered why he was signed, saying the club should have instead rely on players from their youth teams, where he believed if they are no better players then the club has a bigger issue to contend with.
He said: “How is someone who played for Glasgow Rangers like Calvin Bassey going to be able to lead the defence at Ajax?
“Where was the Ajax youth system? Was there no one there better than him? Because if there isn’t then you have a major problem.
“Sometimes it’s better if you don’t have any money because then you don’t do crazy things. Then you wait for the right moment and occasionally take a chance”, he said on Dutch television.
The former Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur star ended his statement blaming the former coach of the team who sanctions the signing of the Nigerian. “Instead they spent 23 million Euros on Bassey. Alfred Schreuder made too many big mistakes”.
Mohammed Mowiz