If one man wouldn’t have liked Cyriel Dessers’ goal for Nigeria v Mexico recently it might have been Rangers’ Borna Barišić.

Why?

Because the assist for it was world class, came from a pinpoint cross, and was by… yes, Calvin Bassey.

The rising star of Scottish football, with a current market value now of around £30M, has been a mainstay of defence under GVB, with increasingly impressive displays, and often in Barišić’s place at the left.

But his one ‘weakness’ which the Croat can certainly boast is crossing, with the Nigerian not viewed as well as Rangers’ former Osijek man, who is well-known for his pinpoint delivery.

That said, that delivery has not been at its superb best in more recent times, with just a paltry three assists all last season compared with 14 the previous. Bassey has 6, with a lot more appearances at CB.

What does this mean?

It means Bassey has worked hard on his crossing, and the delivery to Desser in that international friendly was the latest evolution of a player who could well be taking over on the general left hand side of defence.

Whether it’s at LB or CB, Bassey is first choice now, and he has evolved to such an extent that he can fill in either role now to levels unthinkable last season. And he’s even crossing better than Barišić now.

That flexibility means PL sides are looking at him, and he’s become one of Rangers’ most valuable assets.

Borna? You’ll just have to raise your game all over again…