Outspoken Rafael van der Vaart reckons £19 million Ajax defender Calvin Bassey was never going to succeed because he only played for Rangers.
The Nigerian international was the biggest omission of interim manager John Heitinga's first selection at the weekend following the dismissal of Alfred Schreuder last week, who had swooped for the ex-Ibrox star. Bassey was only on the bench as Ajax romped to a 4-1 win against Excelsior, which was incredibly their first victory in the Eredivisie since October.
And 109-times capped former Real Madrid star van der Vaart was the latest to join the growing band of criticism for Bassey, who has struggled in Dutch football since his move. He said: "How is someone who played for Glasgow Rangers like Calvin Bassey going to be able to lead the defence at Ajax?
"Where was the Ajax youth system? Was there no one there better than him? Because if there isn't then you have a major problem. Sometimes it's better if you don't have any money because then you don't do crazy things. Then you wait for the right moment and occasionally take a chance. Instead they spent 23 million Euros on Bassey. Alfred Schreuder made too many big mistakes."
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