Lisandro Martinez to Man Utd development provides big hint on Rangers transfer battle

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Manchester United’s imminent deal for Lisandro Martinez may have provided a big hint that Ajax are on the verge of landing Calvin Bassey from Rangers. The centre-back has been made a ‘top priority’ by the Dutch outfit, and reports indicated that they would only finalise the paperwork for Martinez to join the Red Devils if their move for Bassey was advanced. 

Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag and his Rangers counterpart, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, may not have expected their summer transfer windows to become so interlinked, but the final details of their swoop for Martinez were supposedly dependent on Ajax lining up a replacement. 

After a tremendous season in Glasgow last time out, Bassey has reportedly perked the interest of no less than seven clubs in the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga and Eredivisie. Sky Sports claim that Brighton and Ajax have both held concrete talks with the 22-year-old, and the latter marked him as an ‘absolute top priority’. 

Rangers are said to be relaxed about the situation, and are clear that they will not even consider offers below £20million. Some estimate that a deal for the Nigerian international could even surpass the £25m Celtic received for Kieran Tierney. 

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On Friday morning, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claimed that Ajax have approved the documents for Martinez to complete his switch to Old Trafford, adding that the deal is ‘done’. United are set to land the Argentine on a five-year contract, shelling out a total package that could reach £47m. 

That would strongly suggest that Ajax are closing in on Bassey, with reports from the Netherlands earlier in the day stating that the Amsterdam-based side were ‘playing chess’ with Rangers and wanted to unveil his replacement ‘as soon as possible’. 

Bassey was also reported to be of interest to Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard, having worked together during the former Liverpool captain’s time in charge at Ibrox. He only broke through into the Gers’ first team last season having signed for just £230,000 from Leicester in 2020, making 50 appearances in all competitions and battling all the way to the Europa League final. 

It has been an eventful summer transfer window for Rangers, which is just as well based on Celtic’s current spending spree. Bassey could join Joe Aribo and Cedric Itten on the list of high-profile departures, but they have already brought in Tom Lawrence, Joe Souttar, Antonio Colak and Rabbi Matondo to replenish the numbers. 

Speaking while on their pre-season tour of Portugal, manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst suggested that there could be even more in the pipeline. 

“I’m very excited,” he told Sky Sports. “Last season is over, we’re now looking ahead into the new season. We’re very focused and prepared for the season ahead. We expect some new players coming in.

“We’ll try to get to the Champions League group stages, so August is going to be a very important month and we have to be ready. We’re in all competitions at the start, and being the manager and [previously] a player for Rangers, it comes with expectations. We’re all working hard to achieve those ambitions.”

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