An astute analytical assessment from Adrian Clarke on the Premier League’s official website underlines why Fulham were so keen to sign Calvin Bassey from Ajax. The numbers that Clarke puts together make it clear that the physical centre back appears to be an ideal fit for Marco Silva’s possession-based system – even if his only taste of English football before Sunday’s brief debut in the Summer Series was in Leicester City’s academy.

Clarke, who lauds Bassey’s displays during his time north of the border at Rangers, asserts that he should feature in Silva’s starting eleven at Everton on the opening day of the season. The ageless American centre back Tim Ream might have something to say about that, especially as he’s earmarked this weekend’s final friendly against Hoffenheim as an opportunity to prove his fitness following the shoulder injury that ended his sensational season early last term, but it isn’t difficult to see why the Nigerian international was coveted by the Cottagers over the summer.

Bassey has been a key part of two sides that have enjoyed possession and territorial dominance over their domestic opponents: Rangers in Scotland, where he helped Steven Gerrard’s side reach the Europa League final against all the odds and Ajax, for whom he played in six Champions’ League matches last season. He gets through more than 55 passes a match on average over the past two domestic campaigns and his passing accuracy across all competitions has ranged from 83 to 91 per cent.

Another important positional element here is that Bassey is adept at playing left back, which will allow the attack-minded Antonee Robinson to roam from his full back position and deploy his blistering pace high up the pitch. The powerful defender can shift across into the left back position to cover Robinson where necessary and has more pace to add a recovery than Ream, whose redemption season still hasn’t been written about enough in my view. Clarke also highlights Bassey’s physicality and strength in battles with opposing forwards – which is an area where Fulham did occasionally run into trouble last term.

The numbers suggest Bassey will be more of a success in the Premier League, a league of higher intensity and physicality than the Eredivisie, and Clarke’s commentary outlines why the Whites are happy to have landed one of their top defensive targets.