Powerful young Rangers player Calvin Bassey has vowed to use pre-season to show the club’s coaches what he has to offer [Glasgow Times].
The Gers snapped up Bassey from Leicester City U23s last summer and he had a mixed first campaign at Ibrox, serving as Borna Barisic’s backup at left-back.
The 21-year-old impressed with some fearless displays, particularly early in the season, and ultimately contributed to a historic Premiership title win.
However, he also made a costly error in the 3-2 League Cup quarter-final defeat at St Mirren, was involved in a high-profile breach of Covid restrictions in February, and only saw a total of 703 minutes of action.
With Barisic yet to return to Auchenhowie following Euro 2020 duty with Croatia, though, the Italian-born defender is currently the most senior specialist left-back in the group.
He looks to have got himself into very good shape already, with fans recently raving about his physique on Twitter, and he says he’s determined to make these next few weeks count.
“Definitely, I am using it (pre-season) to showcase my ability and show the coaches what I have got to offer,” he said [Glasgow Times].
“You always need to take your opportunity when it comes and hopefully I can just carry on, get my head down and focus and try to put in the best performances that I can.”
Bassey already has two lots of 45 minutes under his belt from the opening two fixtures against Partick Thistle and Tranmere Rovers and several more opportunities are set to follow before the competitive action arrives.
The first of those will be on Saturday against Premier League side Arsenal, which will give him a good opportunity to prove that he’s capable of performing against high-quality players.