Glasgow Rangers young star sends message to Rohr he wants to be part of AFCON 2021 squad

Glasgow Rangers young star Calvin Bassey is targeting a call-up to the Super Eagles squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

The former Leicester City starlet, who also qualifies to represent Italy the country he was born and England where he grew up, has seemingly pledged his international future to Nigeria having accepted an invitation for the World Cup qualifying fixtures against Central African Republic in October.

Bassey was handed a maiden call-up because Porto fullback Zaidu Sanusi found playing opportunities few and far between when the season started, but he is now back in favour at the Portuguese giants, which contributed to manager Gernot Rohr's decision to omit the Rangers youngster from his squad for last month's games.

With the Confederation of African Football permitting countries to name five extra players on their rosters for AFCON 2021, Bassey will fancy his chances of gatecrashing Nigeria's squad due to his ability to play as a fullback and left-sided central defender.

At Friday's pre-match press conference before the visit of Dundee, Bassey was asked if wants to be part of the Africa Cup of Nations going forward.

The Rangers number 3 responded : "Yes of course. Obviously it's always an honour to represent your country . Obviously the timing is a bit hard because we've got games.

"Right now I'm just fully focused at the club, at the end of the day if I do well here that's what helps me get called up for Nigeria and so on, so I'm just focused on the club and just giving my best performance, taking  each game as it comes.

"Whatever happens when we get to that stage we'll look at it and see what's best for me and take it from there."

Nigeria will announce their roster for a training camp ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations in the coming weeks, and Bassey's teammates at club level Joe Aribo and Leon Balogun are guaranteed roster spots.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel