GOLDSON BACKS BASSEY TO REACH HIGHEST LEVEL

CONNOR GOLDSON has lavished praise on Calvin Bassey and insisted the 22-year-old can reach the level of Arsenal’s £27million defender Gabriel. Bassey produced another excellent display in Thursday night’s 3-1 Europa League semi-final second-leg win over RB Leipzig as Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side moved to the brink of continental glory. Goldson has been immensely impressed by the former Leicester City youngster in his breakthrough season and doesn’t see any limits to what he can achieve. He drew a comparison in terms of potential with Gabriel, who made a big-money move from Lille to Arsenal at Bassey’s age two years ago. ‘I think Calvin has the world at his feet,’ said Goldson. ‘I really believe he can go on and be whatever he wants to be. ‘The pace, the strength and being left-footed, they are attributes you can only dream of and I said it to him before this season that this had to be his breakthrough year. ‘He was 21 and is now 22 and hadn’t played as much as other players at that age, so I said that to him at the start of the season and he took it on board. ‘He went away for the off-season and worked really hard. He had a private trainer over the summer and came back absolutely flying. When he got his chance, he hasn’t let us down. ‘Whether he wants to play at centre-back or left-back, I don’t know. But if Calvin does want to play at centre-back and you look at the top teams, they all want one to be right-footed and one to be left-footed. ‘Take Gabriel at Arsenal — I’m not saying Calvin is as good as him right now but look at the build, the stature, his pace and his left foot is nice. ‘I think Calvin, over time and with experience, can easily get to that level.’