There will be no old pals’ act from Bassey
Calvin Bassey admits he can’t wait to see his former Rangers team-mates, but he insists that once he gets on the pitch, he will do everything to beat them.
The English defender moved to the Amsterdam giants this summer in a £19 million deal after enjoying a superb second half to the season with the Light Blues.
His strong displays helped them reach the Europa League Final, which they lost in an agonising penalty shoot-out to Eintracht Frankfurt, before bouncing back to win the Scottish Cup Final against Hearts.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side start their Champions League campaign with a trip to the Netherlands to play the Dutch champions.
Bassey said: “I am intensely happy that Rangers also made it to the Champions League, and I am really looking forward to seeing all my friends again in Amsterdam on Wednesday.
“But it is also difficult for me because Rangers knows my strengths and weaknesses, and I know theirs from my time in Glasgow.
“It becomes a mind game. “When I am on the pitch, they won’t be my friends for 90 minutes, and I will do everything to try to win the match for Ajax.
“It will be a dog-eat-dog fight. Every man for himself.”
Bassey – who was sent off on his Ajax debut against PSV – revealed he has former Spurs winger, Steven Bergwijn, to thank for settling into life at Ajax.
He said: “I didn’t know how I would be accepted into the squad, but it has been fantastic.
“’I get on very well with Jurrien Timber, Devyne Rensch, Dusan Tadic, Daley Blind and Kenneth Taylor, but I owe the most thanks to Steven Bergwijn.
“He took me under his wing because – from his Spurs days – he knows what it’s like to join a new club in a foreign country as a young boy.
“The transfer was a surprise to me because I’m a much bigger defender than the type Ajax usually go for, and English players almost never go to Ajax – or even abroad – in general.
“But Ajax was a no-brainer for me, competing in the Champions League with a high-quality, young team. I want to be a part of that, 100%.”