Rangers struck gold selling star worth more than Bassey in 2024 money

Former Glasgow Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson endured his fair share of transfer blinders and howlers throughout his tenure at Ibrox.

The English chief, who departed from Glasgow last year, signed the likes of John Lundstram, Fashion Sakala, Leon Balogun, and Ianis Hagi for the Gers.

However, he also brought in the likes of Cedric Itten, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Simpson, and James Sands, who failed to shine with the Light Blues.

Wilson did, though, rake in big money from player sales. Per Transfermarkt, the two biggest sales in the club’s history – Nathan Patterson and Calvin Bassey – both came during his time at Ibrox.

Rangers brought in a huge fee from Ajax when they sold central defender Bassey back in the summer of 2022.

However, when you adjust for the inflation of transfer fees in football over the year, the Gers once made a more valuable sale in the form of Barry Ferguson’s move to Blackburn Rovers back in 2003.

Rangers’ Calvin Bassey masterclass

The versatile defender came up through the ranks at Leicester City before the Scottish giants swooped in to sign him from the English side for £230k in compensation in the summer of 2020.

Bassey played a bit-part role under Steven Gerrard, whose assistant was Michael Beale at the time, during the 2020/21 campaign, with just 15 appearances in all competitions.

Eight of those outings came in the Scottish Premiership as Rangers won the league title ahead of Celtic, whilst he also played three times in the group stages of the Europa League.

The following season, Bassey emerged as a first-team regular under Gerrard and then Dutch boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst during the 2021/22 campaign.

As you can see in the table above, the left-footed enforcer, who was utilised at both left-back and centre-back throughout the season, showcased his dominant defensive quality by winning the majority of his duels on the deck and in the air.

Bassey also played an important role in Rangers’ run to the final of the Europa League, which they lost on penalties to Eintracht Frankfurt, with a duel success rate of 60% across 14 outings in the competition.

The Nigeria international, who also assisted two goals during that European run, ended the campaign with 50 first-team appearances under his belt.

His form convinced Dutch giants Ajax to swoop for his services in the summer of 2022, for a fee Sky Sports reported to be £19.6m rising to £22.7m with add-ons.

This shows that Rangers played a masterclass with Bassey, who now plays for Fulham in the Premier League, as they snapped him up from Leicester in 2020 and sold him for a club-record £19.6m just two years later.

The Gers hit the jackpot with the versatile defender, particularly when you consider that his value then dropped as the Cottagers signed him for £19.3m from Ajax just one year later.

Rangers, arguably, hit a bigger jackpot when they brought Ferguson through their academy set-up in the 1990s as the central midfielder starred on the pitch before being sold for a significant fee.

Barry Ferguson’s emergence at Rangers

The Scottish dynamo came through the ranks in Glasgow and made his first-team debut with seven appearances in all competitions during the 1996/97 campaign.

He then played ten matches in all competitions during the following season before finally establishing himself as a regular at senior level during the 1998/99 term, with two goals in 39 outings in total for the Gers – and a Scotland debut.

As you can see in the table above, Ferguson featured regularly over the subsequent four Premiership seasons for the Light Blues and exploded as a goalscorer during the 2002/03 campaign.

That term, the Scotland international plundered 19 goals in 52 appearances for club and country, as he showcased his immense goalscoring talent from central midfield.

That fantastic form for Rangers attracted interest from elsewhere. Premier League side Blackburn Rovers swooped in to secure his services in the summer of 2003, for a fee that would be gargantuan in 2024 money.

The fee Blackburn Rovers paid for Barry Ferguson in 2024 money

Per Totally Money, the English outfit splashed out £8.78m to sign the impressive central midfielder from the Scottish giants ahead of the 2003/04 season.

When you adjust for the inflation of transfer fees in football over the subsequent years, per Totally Money’s index, that £8.78m fee would be worth a staggering £36.88m in 2024 money.

This means that Ferguson’s sale was worth more to the Gers at that time than Bassey’s was to Rangers in 2022, given that it would have been worth over £10m more in today’s money.

Unfortunately, for Blackburn, the Scottish whiz only produced four goals and one assist in 38 matches in all competitions during his 18-month spell in England, which included 36 appearances in the Premier League.

After his difficult time in English football, Ferguson made a return to Rangers in February 2005 for a fee of £4.5m – just under half as much as Blackburn paid to sign him from the Gers 18 months prior.

The Scotland international went on to enjoy another four-and-a-half seasons with the Gers and his best campaign, for goal contributions, came during the 2007/08 term.

As you can see in the table above, Ferguson was on fire in the Premiership with a fantastic return of 23 direct goal contributions in 38 appearances for the Light Blues.

Ultimately, the Gers academy graduate produced 54 goals and 29 assists in 398 matches in all competitions for the club either side of his short spell with Blackburn Rovers, before ending his career with time at Birmingham, Fleetwood Town, Blackpool, and Clyde.

Overall, Rangers hit the jackpot with Ferguson as they turned an academy graduate into a high-value asset, who would have been sold for more than Bassey if the move was made in 2024, and then brought him back for significantly less money and enjoyed his services for many more years.