Premier League side Fulham have completed the signing of Super Eagles defender Calvin Bassey from Ajax
Bassey, 23, has penned a four-year contract with the Cottagers.
He told FFCtv: “I know how big a club Fulham is.
“They always have quality players, they’re playing in the Premier League – the best league in the world – so I didn’t have to think much about it.
“I’m happy it’s all done now and I can just focus on the football and help the team build on last season, when they did amazing.”
Nigerian left full back, Calvin Bassey will be joing English Premier League side, Fulham from Ajax for a fee in the region of €21m.
Recall that Ajax rejected an initial fee offer of £15m for Bassey last week.
But the clubs have now settled on an increased sum plus a sell-on fee.
The deal remains subject to personal terms being agreed
Speaking on Bassey’s future Ajax manager, Maurice Steijn told Dutch daily, Telegraaf, “I told Calvin Bassey it would be better to leave Ajax.
“Also because of the money. When he leaves — we can strengthen the squad properly. I have told him this honestly.”
He joined Ajax last summer after two years at Rangers, where he made 65 appearances in total, winning the league title in 2021 and the Scottish Cup the following year.
Since joining the Dutch side, he has made 39 appearances, scoring one goal and providing five assists.
Bassey, who came through the youth academy at Leicester City, made his Nigeria debut in March 2022 and has gone on to make made 10 appearances for his country.
The Athletic previously reported that Fulham are looking to strengthen several positions in their squad this summer and have shown interest in Leicester City defender Timothy Castagne.
The London club have also had a bid rejected for Chelsea forward Callum Hudson-Odoi and could return with a fresh bid again for the 22-year-old.
Ajax Amsterdam are in danger of finishing outside the top two in the Dutch football league for the first time in 13 seasons.
This will mean missing out on the UEFA Champions League next season.
The signs are ominous as they struggle to build a new team in the wake of record sales last year.
The club have finished champions seven times and runners-up another five over the last 12 seasons, since ending third behind AZ Alkmaar and Twente Enschede in 2009.
However, after a 3-0 drubbing from PSV Eindhoven on Sunday, Ajax have dropped to third with four league matches left to play.
It could get worse as their next league clash on May 6 is home to AZ, who lie two points behind them in fourth place.
Ajax, who meet PSV again this Sunday in the Dutch Cup final, have paid the price for their own success.
This has been over the past three title-winning seasons, alongside their run to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 2019.
They sold the bulk of their talent and lost coach Erik ten Hag to Manchester United.
Now it is their arch rivals Feyenoord who are on course to win the league, needing five points from their final four matches.
They have 73 points with PSV Eindhoven second on 65.
Ajax are on 62, facing having to play in the Europa League next season after 13 successive season of competing in the UEFA Champions League.
Ajax, who are four-time European champions, made eye-watering 216.2 million euros in transfers in the close season.
This included almost 155 million euros alone from Manchester United for Brazilian Antony and defender Lisandro Martinez.
But, in spite of the positive bank balance, the club are in transition struggling to replace the departed talent.
Team captain Dusan Tadic said on Sunday he had noticed a decline in the level at training daily and in matches weekly.
“We won one top match all season,” in a reference to this month’s Dutch Cup semi-final success at Feyenoord. “We need more quality in the squad.”
They were beaten 6-1 at home by Napoli and 3-0 by Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League.
In January they fired coach Alfred Schreuder after only half a season in charge following a string of seven matches without a win.
John Heitinga stepped in as caretaker coach for the rest of the season. “It’s been a difficult season, we all realise that,” he said on Sunday.
“We have to be realistic, a lot of quality has gone and a completely new team had to take shape. That takes time.
“We have to take this year as it is, but look very critically at next season. It’s a gap year, but we can’t have too many gap years at Ajax.”
Bayern Munich have signed Dutch defender Daley Blind on a free transfer with a six-month contract, the Bundesliga club said on Thursday.
The 32-year-old became a free agent last week after agreeing to terminate his contract with Ajax Amsterdam six months early.
“We are really pleased that Daley has joined the team,” Bayern Munich’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic said.
“Daley is a versatile defender who can play on the left-hand side as well as in the centre. He has lots of international experience and leadership qualities.”
Blind, who helped the Netherlands reach the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals in Qatar, won seven titles with Ajax, making 333 appearances, scoring 13 goals and contributing 21 assists.
He also won the 2017 Europa League during his spell with Premier League club Manchester United.
German champions Bayern Munich, who lead the Bundesliga standings, resume their campaign against RB Leipzig on Jan. 20.
Former Morocco international Nordin Amrabat says Hakim Ziyech will re-sign for Ajax if they offer a long-term contract.
The Chelsea midfielder has been linked with a return to Ajax, though Amrabat warns he won’t be interested in a loan move.
Amrabat told ESPN: “He’ll do it when he gets a three or four year contract with Ajax.
“He will certainly not be loaned. Play for five months, thanks and goodbye, that’s not for him. What Chelsea will want to get for Ziyech? I think half of what they paid for him. I think they want about twenty million. If you become champion and make it to the Champions League, will you have earned it again?
“He is a leader for your team, but the question is whether he wants it himself. He now has a big contract with Chelsea and would have to hand in about half to return.”
Ajax chief Edwin van der Sar says Manchester United have signed a “world star” in Antony.
Antony followed Lisandro Martinez and former Ajax coach Erik ten Hag to Old Trafford in a £85m deal.
“I spoke with United about Erik, with Richard Arnold. Erik did a fantastic job here, put Ajax back on the European map with the players we had,” he told The Athletic.
“You know in hindsight that managers like the players they work with, the type of football Erik wanted to play, and with Martinez there he has shown his worth now. There were question marks initially, but the way he can read the game, how aggressive he is — what he doesn’t have in centimetres he makes up for in other qualities.
“(Antony is) Still young, still potential. We would have liked to keep him here one year longer — there was not a dire need to sell him, we had money in the bank — but the fee got so high. We challenged United to go as far as possible. They have a potential world star.”
Manchester United winger, Antony has opened up on living in a favela named after hell to playing in the Premier League.
The Brazilian moved to the Premier League side last summer from Ajax after impressing in the Eredivisie.
Antony has gone on to become a key player for the Red Devils.
United paid over £82million for Antony, who has netted three times in six league fixtures.
But the 22-year-old has now opened up on the poor conditions he was born into.
“I was born in hell. That’s not a joke. For my European friends who don’t know, the favela where I grew up in São Paulo is actually called Inferninho — ‘little hell’,” he wrote for the Players’ Tribune.
Antony added: “In the beginning, I played barefoot, on bleeding feet. We did not have money for proper shoes.
“I went from the slums to Ajax to Manchester United in three years.”
Manchester United legend, and pundit, Rio Ferdinand, has heaped praises on midfielder, Thiago Alcantara for Liverpool’s Champions League 2-1 win over Ajax on Tuesday.
Ferdinand noted that the midfielder’s brilliance showed in the UCL game against Ajax.
Mohammed Salah had put the team ahead in the 21st minute before Mohammed Kudus equalized for Ajax in the 38th minute.
Liverpool were on the verge of playing out a 1-1 draw before Joel Matip’s powerful 89th-minute header secure all three points for the Reds.
At the heart of their performance was Alcantara, who operated brilliantly at the base of their midfield in defense and attack.
The Spain international won two tackles and seven duels against Ajax.
“He came on against Napoli and he was the only one who got any sort of positive words from the manager in terms of his intensity, stepping onto the game, onto opponents, and he took that into the game today.
“The way Jurgen Klopp’s teams play at their best is when they are right up against people, when they are in people’s faces and when they win it in transition, playing the ball forward. He epitomized all of that today,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.
Liverpool will play Rangers of Scotland in their next UCL fixture.
Liverpool football club left it late before grabbing a winner in the 89th minute to secure a 2-1 win over visiting Ajax football FC of Netherlands.
Joel Matip’s 89th minute header was all the Reds needed to get back to winning ways after the game seem to be heading for a draw.
Jurgen Klopp’s men had won just two of their opening seven games of the season, and suffered a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Napoli on matchday one.
Despite losing to Liverpool, Ajax still top group A pending when Napoli and Rangers play their second game on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Bayern defeated Barcelona in group B’s match day two in the UEFA Champions League.
Two quick second half goals separated the team, goals from Lucaz Hernadez and Leroy Sane were enough to skyrocket Bayern to the summit of group B .
Bayern’s France defender Lucas Hernandez headed in a corner to open goal scoring account, but it was Sane who put the game beyond doubt for the home side.
Sporting Lisbon of Portugal defeated English side Tottenham Hotspurs by 2-0, Bayern Leverkusen thrashed Atletico Madrid by 2-0.
Dutch giants Ajax have signed Calvin Bassey from Rangers for a fee of 23 million euros (23.5 million dollars) that could rise to 26.5 million euros with add-ons.
The 22-year-old Nigeria defender is likely to be the replacement for Lisandro Martinez.
Martinez is close to sealing a move to Manchester United to be reunited with his former manager Erik ten Hag.
Bassey has signed a five-year-deal at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
The Eredivisie champions confirmed on Wednesday he has already joined his new team-mates in Austria at their pre-season training camp.
Though born in Italy, Bassey is a Nigeria international, and became a regular at Rangers last season.
He starred in their run to the 2021/2022 Europa League final, dispatching the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Braga and RB Leipzig along the way.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men ultimately lost in Seville to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalty kicks.
But Bassey impressed on the night and had been subject of interest from several clubs across Europe during the transfer window.
He made 65 appearances in all for Rangers after signing from Leicester City in 2020, winning the Scottish Premiership in 2020/2021 and the Scottish Cup last season.
Rangers moved to replace Bassey on Tuesday when they signed centre-back Ben Davies from Liverpool.