Roy Makaay admits that he feels sorry for former Rangers defender Calvin Bassey - with the Nigerian becoming a 'scapegoat' at Ajax as a result of the club's poor form in the Eredivisie.
Bassey joined Ajax in the summer in a £20million deal that could reach £26m if all add-ons are reached, and he instantly hit the ground running by nailing down a starting place as soon as he entered the Johan Cruyff Arena. Following his arrival from Rangers in the summer, Bassey played in almost every minute of the Eredivisie until the end of January, missing just 51 minutes of league football in that time. However, a poor run of form saw Ajax fail to win in SEVEN league games - a torrid run for a club of their size - and that coincided with boss Alfred Schreuder being sacked, plunging Bassey's future into doubt.
He was dropped by interim boss Johnny Heitinga for the 4-1 win at Excelsior on January 29, and didn't feature at all in Sunday's 5-0 win at Cambuur, with Owen Wijndal taking his place. Bassey has become a huge scapegoat in his time in the Dutch capital, notably for his limited ability on the ball in comparison to his Ajax academy teammates.
But whilst Makaay - who worked as a coach at Rangers under Gio van Bronckhorst - feels sorry for the former Leicester City youth prospect, he has defended his playing style after personally working with Bassey at Ibrox, admitting is "isn't his fault he didn't grow up in the Ajax school."
Asked if Bassey was a better player than people presumed him to be, Makaay told Dutch television: “Yes, I think so. I was able to experience him up close for a year and saw him develop enormously in that year. He went from left back to central defender. He’s very strong and fast.
“He is a boy who plays better and better when he has more confidence. I now see that he is struggling, but that also makes sense. Of course there is a lot of criticism of him. You know that criticism is part of a club like Ajax.
“I’m sure he can be of value to Ajax with his qualities. Of course he still has to develop on the ball, but he had a fantastic year last year. I never feel sorry for football players, but I do feel sorry for him sometimes. We judge him on the things he doesn’t really have, namely the qualities in possession.
“He can head excellently, is super fast, can cover well. Ajax has also seen that, so use it that way and don’t use it as a left back in the build-up. This boy can’t help it that he didn’t grow up in the Ajax school.”
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