Fulham coach reveals what he told Bassey before throwing him into the fray v Chelsea 

Fulham manager Marco Silva has revealed his conversation with Calvin Bassey before throwing him into the fray in Sunday's 2-0 loss to Chelsea in the Premier League Summer Series. 

Silva almost took everyone by surprise by giving minutes to Bassey, considering the fact that the Nigeria national teamer was acquired two days before the meeting with Chelsea. 

In addition, the Leicester City academy product had been inactive for past club Ajax Amsterdam since playing the second half of their 3-0 rout of Shakhtar Donetsk in a pre-season friendly on July 18, amid speculation surrounding his future. 

Against Chelsea, the central defender came off the bench at halftime as a replacement for De Fougerolles.

Before Bassey's introduction, the damage had already been done as Chelsea had established a two-goal lead courtesy of efforts from Thiago Silva and Christopher Nkunku.

Silva stressed that his brand new Nigerian signing was not under pressure to perform when he brought him on for the second half. 

In quotes relayed by Fulham's official webpage, Silva stated at the post-match press conference: "It was the first 45 minutes for [Bassey] and I told him I didn’t expect brilliant, brilliant things. I wanted him to start simple to get some confidence, and he did.

"When he gets to know his teammates better, know the connections better, he can show different things, much more on the ball.

"Off the ball, he’s a strong lad, it’s just a matter of time for him to understand our principles and our ideas on and off the ball."

Fulham signed Bassey on a four-year contract with a club option to extend by a further twelve months. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

Photo Credit: fulhamfc.com 

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