Rangers and Porto defenders Calvin Bassey and Zaidu Sanusi, who have been called up to Jose Peseiro's squad for the summer internationals, tasted much success during the recently concluded season.

Bassey was instrumental in helping Rangers get to the Europa League final before losing to Frankfurt, winning the Scottish Cup, and also winning the club's Young Player of the Year award.

On the other hand, Sanusi won the Primeira Liga and Taça de Portugal with Porto. He was instrumental in winning both trophies with his combative performances.

In this article, allnigeriasoccer.com highlights two reasons why the Nigeria left-backs had a successful season at their respective European clubs.

Availability : There is an old football saying which goes thus "the best players are the ones who are available". It is no coincidence that Ronaldo and Messi are among the most available players.

Bassey and Sanusi were majorly available last season. The former made 49 appearances with 46 coming as starts, while the latter made 40 appearances while starting 34 of them.

He only missed a handful of games through injury. Also worthy to note that Bassey missed zero games due to injury.

Strong mentality: Playing such a number of games require a strong mentality. Apart from being physically demanding, playing many competitive matches is mentally draining and it takes only the top-class players to overcome it.

These two traits are important for top-flight football and thankfully for the Super Eagles, both players possess them in abundance.

Sofoluwe Mayowa

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