Calvin Bassey looked up to Harry Maguire when the pair were together at Leicester City, and the Fulham star still sees Man Utd’s centre-back as an inspiration now that they’ve both gone their own way.

Bassey and Maguire were on opposite sides on Saturday as Fulham hosted United at Craven Cottage. For the best part of 90 minutes, it looked as though both men would be celebrating clean sheets, only for Bruno Fernandes to ruin the hosts’ day with a last-gasp winner.

As their team-mates left the stadium after United’s 1-0 victory, Bassey and Maguire stayed behind for a long chat to catch up. The Nigeria international was in Leicester’s academy when Maguire enjoyed his best seasons at the King Power Stadium, but learned plenty from the senior member of the Foxes’ back line before he completed his £80m Man Utd switch in 2019.

“At the time I was coming through the ranks and he was one of the players I looked up to and still do, he’s a quality player,” Bassey said. “Now that I’m playing on the opposite side, he plays on the opposite side, just giving me some advice like any top player would.

“Yeah of course,” the 23-year-old said when asked if the United star was an inspiration to him. “He was incredible at Leicester and still is. To do what he did for Leicester was amazing.”

Maguire looked to be on his way out at Manchester United after losing the captaincy over the summer, but a proposed West Ham switch failed to materialise. The England international didn’t start any of United’s first seven Premier League games of the season but has been an ever-present since, keeping his place even after Raphael Varane’s return from injury.

What have you made of Harry Maguire’s renaissance? Have your say in the comments section

Bassey never made a senior appearance for Leicester, but went on to excel for Rangers and Ajax before moving to Fulham over the summer. Partnering captain Tim Ream at the back, he was moments away of helping Marco Silva’s team pick up an improved result after two painful defeats to United last season – one when Alejandro Garnacho scored a last-minute winner in the league and one when Fulham led in the cup before a penalty and two red cards turned the game in favour of Ten Hag’s men.

“Of course [Silva] reminded us we were very unlucky both games last season so it was time to rewrite the history, sort of,” Bassey said. “Again, just unlucky and just the fine details lost the game for us.

“You always try to take advantage [of the noise around United] but we just wanted to go out there and play to our gameplan and what we prepared for. I thought we did it well at times and just right at the end, you know…

“We had a couple of chances as well, and those fine details again. We could have been 1-0 up with Joao [Palhinha]’s chance, maybe pass it, maybe shoot, you never know.

“Of course disapponted because it’s just last minute, but we all stick together. We win together, we lose together.”

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