Italian Serie A club Lazio have rejected a proposed loan offer from AFC Bournemouth for Nigerian midfielder Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, CompleteSports can report.
According to transfer insiders, the Premier League side submitted a loan deal with a €18 million option to buy for the 24 year old, but Lazio were unwilling to accept the proposal.
Dele-Bashiru, a Manchester City youth product, has struggled to secure regular first-team action in Rome this season, managing just 10 league appearances under coach Maurizio Sarri.
Despite interest from Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albion, Lazio want to retain the midfielder as squad depth amid ongoing tactical and roster considerations.
The Nigeria international, who joined Lazio in summer 2024 from Turkish side Hatayspor, still has around two and a half years left on his contract with the Italian club.
Editorial
In football’s intricate ballet of ambition and strategy, a player’s career is often shaped as much by what doesn’t happen as by what does. Fisayo Dele-Bashiru’s stalled move to Bournemouth is a case in point a story of promise deferred, of market mechanics colliding with squad necessity.
The Nigerian midfielder, once tipped for a Premier League return, found himself at the centre of transfer speculation as the winter window approached its deadline. Bournemouth’s proposal a loan with a €18 million option to buy suggested genuine interest from a club seeking dynamism and versatility in midfield. Yet Lazio’s decision to reject it underscores something deeper a club not yet ready to relinquish an asset they still consider valuable, even if underutilised.
Dele-Bashiru’s Serie A campaign this season has been subdued, his minutes limited as tactical choices and injury niggles conspired against continuity. That kind of intermittent playing time can stall growth, yet Lazio’s stance hints at broader arithmetic the delicate balancing act of maintaining depth while navigating a long season. In an era when squad rotation is as much a tactical necessity as a luxury, depth can be as precious as a marquee departure.
There is also a human dimension. For the player himself, the rejection is a reminder that careers rarely follow neat trajectories. The lure of England’s top flight, where he once cut his teeth in youth ranks and where his dynamism might ignite more consistently, remains undimmed. Yet the narrative now pivots towards patience and timing. Rome, with its tactical rigour and competitive pace, still offers him a stage from which maturity might emerge.
The coming month perhaps even the summer window could be decisive. A return to consistent form, or a shift in Lazio’s own transfer calculus, might reopen doors that are, for now, ajar rather than open. In the evolving story of Dele-Bashiru’s career, this winter may be remembered less for what was lost than for what was postponed a chapter in a longer, more nuanced journey.
Did You Know?
- Dele-Bashiru’s move attracted multiple Premier League suitors, including Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albion.
- He began his football development in Manchester City’s youth system before moving on to clubs in Turkey and Italy.
- His contract with Lazio runs until summer 2028, giving the Italian club leverage in any future negotiations.
- Dele-Bashiru struggled for consistent game time in Serie A this season, making just ten league appearances with no goals or assists.
- Aside from Bournemouth, Turkish club Trabzonspor also showed interest in signing him during the winter window.
