Rangers put £25m price tag on Bassey

RANGERS have slapped a £25million price tag on the head of wanted defender Calvin Bassey. A stand-out performer in the Europa League final defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt and last Saturday’s Scottish Cup triumph over Hearts, the Nigerian international is being tracked by clubs in England and Germany. Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa have lodged an enquiry after already spending £43m on three new signings for next season. With RB Leipzig among a number of Bundesliga clubs also interested in Bassey, the 22-year-old could land Rangers a massive profit after joining from Leicester for a bargain £250,000 two years ago. Capable of playing left-back or central defence, Bassey insists he is content with life at Ibrox — with the club in no hurry to sell after a European run that saw the player named in the Europa League team of the season. The record sale for any

player from the Scottish league was the £25m Arsenal paid Celtic for Kieran Tierney. Rangers’ record fee is £12m for Nathan Patterson’s move to Everton, a deal which could rise to £16m. Meanwhile, Rangers face a battle to land goalkeeping target Vladan Kovacevic after Polish club Rakow issued a hands-off warning. Ibrox No1 Allan McGregor has yet to commit to another year amidst speculation the 40-year-old may retire. In the market for a competitor for Scottish Cup final keeper Jon McLaughlin, Rangers are interested in ex-Bosnian Under-21s international Kovacevic. The 24year-old helped Rakow finish second to Lech Poznan in the Ekstraklasa with 16 clean sheets in 34 games. Kovacevic is interesting Poznan themselves and Legia Warsaw as well as Augsburg, Royal Antwerp and Bologna. Aware of the interest from Rangers, however, Rakow president Adam Krawczak told Sportsmail the Poles have received no bids — and plan to rebuff any which come their way. He said: ‘He is highly important for us in upcoming Conference League qualifier matches.’

• RANGERS have been fined £3,200 by UEFA after their fans lit flares during the first leg of their semi-final against RB Leipzig in the Red Bull Arena in April. It is the club’s eighth UEFA fine of the season, amounting to more than £100,000.