Forget Andersen, Diop and Cuenca: Marco Silva names Bassey as Fulham's most agile and quickest CB

Manager Marco Silva has singled out Calvin Bassey as Fulham's most agile and quickest centre-back ahead of their Premier League trip to Newcastle United.

Bassey was a surprising omission from Fulham's starting lineup against Arsenal last weekend, following his return from international duty with the Super Eagles, although he came off the bench for the last eight minutes.

The Leicester City academy graduate was impressive last term, beating international teammate Alex Iwobi to Fulham's Player of the Season accolade, after finishing second in his maiden campaign.

Speaking during Thursday's pre-match press conference, Silva praised Bassey for his consistency, athleticism and strength, highlighting how the Super Eagles star offers qualities that set him apart from Joachim Andersen, Issa Diop and Jorge Cuenca.

"Calvin had an amazing season last season; his season was at a top, top level. He's a very good central defender — very strong and quick," Silva told reporters.

"He gives us, in some moments, different things than the others because he's the most agile one, he's the quickest one and very strong in the individual duels too."

Despite his glowing assessment of Bassey, Silva explained that the Nigerian defender started on the bench for the visit of Arsenal due to travel fatigue, having gone the distance in back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Benin.

"I knew that Cuenca is more than capable of doing the job, and that role is for him. Calvin was ten days out with the national team.

"Normally, when they play with Nigeria, it is very difficult for them. They just arrived 48 hours before the game, it's always difficult.

"About the Newcastle game, we have three central defenders. Joachim Andersen is going to be out. We have to decide the partnership to start."

With the exception of the Arsenal match, Bassey has played the full 90 minutes in every Premier League match for Fulham this season.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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