Lazio knocked back Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth in January. Now the summer window is approaching, three Premier League clubs are circling again — and this time Fisayo Dele-Bashiru is willing to listen.
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru is heading into the most important summer of his career. The Super Eagles midfielder has attracted interest from at least three Premier League clubs ahead of the transfer window, according to Sky Sports, with talks over his Lazio future expected to begin as soon as the Serie A season ends.
The 25-year-old is settled in Rome and happy at the Stadio Olimpico. But sources close to the player have told Sky Sports that he is open to a return to England if the right move materialises. That detail changes everything.
The January Rejection That Set This Up
This story did not begin in May. Nottingham Forest made contact with Lazio in January, with the Italian club setting an asking price of €15 million after receiving the enquiry. Bournemouth followed, offering a loan deal with an option to buy at €18 million. Lazio rejected both.
Sunderland were also said to have held discussions. Trabzonspor made enquiries from Turkey. None of them could meet Lazio’s terms during the winter window. Lazio wanted a permanent deal, not a loan, and they were not willing to drop their valuation. The clubs came back empty-handed — but the interest never went away. Fans wanting to follow Dele-Bashiru’s next destination can check the Bet9ja YOHAIG promo code ahead of what promises to be a busy summer window.
What Sky Sports Reported
The fresh Sky Sports report, published on May 6, confirms that three unnamed Premier League clubs are now tracking Dele-Bashiru for the summer. The names of those clubs have not been officially revealed in the latest update, though Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth’s previous involvement makes them the most obvious candidates.
“Three unnamed Premier League clubs are interested in signing Lazio midfielder Fisayo Dele-Bashiru. The former Sheffield Wednesday player has two years left on his contract and talks with Lazio over his future are expected to take place at the end of the season.”
The two-year contract detail matters. Dele-Bashiru is tied to Lazio until June 2028, which means the club hold significant leverage. They do not need to sell. But if the right offer arrives — a permanent deal, not another loan proposal — the conversation will happen quickly.
A Season of Frustration in Rome
The 2025/26 campaign has been the toughest of Dele-Bashiru’s career. A hamstring injury wiped out eight games early in the season. Five more games were missed at AFCON 2025 in Morocco with the Super Eagles. By the time he returned to full fitness, Maurizio Sarri’s tactical setup had little room for him.
He has started just nine Serie A games all season, with an average FotMob rating of 6.2. In Serie A specifically, he has contributed zero goals and zero assists from 307 minutes of league action across nine appearances. It is a far cry from the form that made him one of the most exciting Nigerian midfielders in Europe just eighteen months ago. Those tracking how Premier League clubs value him can find background at bet9japromotioncode.com.ng ahead of the summer window opening.
The Case for Staying — and the Case for Leaving
Lazio’s stance on Dele-Bashiru has shifted throughout the season. During the winter window, the club insisted they viewed him as integral to their plans. The arrival of Kenneth Taylor in midfield since then has complicated that picture considerably, pushing Dele-Bashiru further down the pecking order.
Lazio’s asking price across all reports has been consistently stated between €15 million and €20 million. Transfermarkt values him at €6.5 million — a significant gap that will require one of the interested clubs to blink first. A return to England, where his physical style and energy could thrive in a more direct league, makes footballing sense for a player who has 17 Nigeria caps, 40 Lazio appearances, and five goals to his name in Italian football. Supporters following his transfer saga can stay current with this Bet9ja sign-up bonus page for new users joining ahead of the window.
What It Means for the Super Eagles
For Eric Chelle and the Super Eagles, Dele-Bashiru’s club situation is a secondary concern — but not an irrelevant one. A player getting regular minutes in the Premier League is infinitely more valuable to a national team coach than one picking up 30-minute cameos in Serie A.
His last Nigeria match was the AFCON 2025 loss to Morocco at the quarterfinal stage, where he received a 6.9 Sofascore rating. At 25, this summer represents the moment Dele-Bashiru either consolidates his place among Nigeria’s best midfielders — or continues to slide into the shadows. The Premier League could be exactly the stage he needs to answer that question.
📌 Did You Know?
- Dele-Bashiru joined Manchester City’s academy at the age of eight, making him a product of one of the most renowned youth development systems in world football. He never played a first-team game for City, but won the U18 Premier League Cup with the club in 2018/19 before moving to Sheffield Wednesday in 2020.
- Lazio initially signed Dele-Bashiru on loan from Turkish club Hatayspor in 2024 before activating a permanent clause — confirmed to be worth approximately €5.4 million — at the end of the 2023/24 season. That figure now looks like very good business for Lazio, given they are demanding between €15 million and €20 million to sell him this summer.
- Bournemouth’s January offer — a loan with a buy option set at €18 million — was rejected by Lazio, who specifically wanted a permanent deal rather than a temporary arrangement. The gap between what Bournemouth proposed and what Lazio demanded gives a clear picture of why no deal was struck in the winter window.
- Dele-Bashiru made 80 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday across three seasons before leaving for Turkey in 2023. It was at Hatayspor that he truly announced himself to European scouts, scoring seven goals and adding four assists in 31 appearances in the Turkish Super Lig — the campaign that convinced Lazio to take a chance on him.
- Fisayo Dele-Bashiru has earned 17 caps for the Super Eagles. He chose to represent Nigeria over England, the country of his birth. His international career has included appearances at AFCON 2025 in Morocco, where Nigeria reached the quarterfinals before being eliminated by the host nation, with Dele-Bashiru starting twice in the group stage.
- Lazio’s current manager Maurizio Sarri, whose tactical system has left Dele-Bashiru on the margins, is known for preferring technically refined midfielders over physically powerful box-to-box players. That stylistic mismatch has been cited by analysts as the core reason for Dele-Bashiru’s limited playing time this season — and is arguably the strongest argument in favour of him seeking a move to a more suitable system this summer.
- Three different Lazio managers have worked with Dele-Bashiru since he joined the club. He arrived under Igor Tudor in 2024, was developed under Marco Baroni in his first permanent season, and has spent the 2025/26 campaign under Maurizio Sarri. That level of managerial turnover at a single club in two years is an unusual and disrupting factor for any young player trying to establish themselves.
