Seven years after joining Watford from Manchester City, Tom Dele-Bashiru is on the verge of a fresh start in the Greek Super League as Aris FC move to complete one of their headline summer signings.
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Nigerian attacking midfielder Tom Dele-Bashiru is poised to complete a permanent move from Watford to Greek Super League club Aris FC, FootballInNigeria.com.ng reports. According to Greek outlet ATHLOS, an agreement has been reached between the two clubs for a deal reported to be worth an initial €1.5 million, with performance-related bonuses potentially taking the total to €2 million. The 26 year old is expected to travel to Thessaloniki to finalise the transfer and put pen to paper on a three-year contract with the Yellow-Blacks.
Dele-Bashiru spent the 2025-26 season on loan at Turkish Super Lig club Gençlerbirliği, where he made 30 appearances across all competitions. The loan gave him consistent minutes at a level above the Sky Bet Championship but the output, limited to one assist across those outings, did not result in a permanent offer from the Istanbul club. He returns to Watford this summer as a player whose contract situation has been unresolved, and the Aris FC move now appears set to bring clarity to a career that has been searching for the right environment since his Hornets debut in 2019. Nigerian football fans following Tom’s career can check the Bet9ja YOHAIG welcome code for new users ahead of the new Greek Super League season in August.
Seven Years at Watford: The Full Picture
Tom Dele-Bashiru arrived at Watford in 2019, joining from Manchester City’s youth setup in a move that appeared to open a clear pathway into senior professional football. Over the years that followed, he built a Hornets career that produced 81 appearances across all competitions, eight goals and four assists. That is a respectable contribution from a midfield player, but it also tells a story of a talent that has never quite nailed down an extended run of consistent starts in the first team. The Championship is a relentless league, and Dele-Bashiru’s time at Vicarage Road was punctuated by loans and spells away that prevented him from building sustained momentum at a single club.
His move to Gençlerbirliği in 2025 was intended to change that narrative. Turkey’s Super Lig is a physically demanding competition with quality clubs capable of competing in Europe, and the expectation was that 30 appearances there would either produce a permanent offer from the Turkish side or sharpen his profile enough to attract interest from a league of similar standing. The Aris FC approach, arriving from Greece rather than a return to England, suggests the market has settled on a valuation in the €1.5-2 million bracket. That is a modest fee for a player with his age and background, but it is a fee that reflects his output over the past two seasons rather than his potential at the start of his Watford career. Bet9ja’s promo code for today is available for fans who want to follow Dele-Bashiru in the Greek Super League next season.
What Aris FC and Greece Offer at This Stage
Aris FC, nicknamed the Yellow-Blacks, are one of the most historically significant clubs in Greek football. Founded in 1903 in Thessaloniki, they are three-time Greek Super League champions, with their last title coming in 1946. In modern Greek football they have established themselves as a consistently competitive mid to upper table club, regularly qualifying for European competition and drawing on a fanbase among the most passionate in the country. Thessaloniki’s football culture is intense and the city’s two main clubs, Aris and PAOK, carry a rivalry that gives every local season an edge.
For Dele-Bashiru, the move represents a step into European football for the first time in his career. The Greek Super League sits within UEFA’s framework and offers Europa Conference League qualification for those clubs that finish high enough. A strong individual season with Aris in 2026-27, in a league where creative attacking midfielders are highly valued, could refresh the conversation around his ceiling as a professional footballer. At 26, the window for building toward a defining chapter is still open. Greece has served as a platform for several Nigerian players who found renewed momentum after mixed spells in England, and there is no structural reason why Dele-Bashiru cannot follow the same path. Bet9ja’s promo code page on FootballInNigeria.com.ng covers the latest offer for Nigerian fans following their players across European leagues this season.
📌 Did You Know?
- Tom Dele-Bashiru and his brother Fisayo Dele-Bashiru both came through the Manchester City academy at different points in their youth careers, making them one of the rare pairs of Nigerian brothers to develop at the same Premier League club’s youth setup before taking separate professional paths.
- Aris FC were founded in 1903, making them one of the oldest football clubs in Greece. The club is officially named Aris Thessaloniki FC and takes its name from the ancient Greek god of war, a fitting identity for a club known for its combative style and passionate support base.
- Tom Dele-Bashiru represented Nigeria at youth level with the Flying Eagles, the under-20 national team, giving him a Nigerian football identity despite growing up in England and coming through the English academy system from an early age.
- Gençlerbirliği, the Turkish club where Dele-Bashiru spent the 2025-26 season on loan, are one of the oldest clubs in Turkish football, founded in 1926 and based in Ankara. They competed in the Super Lig throughout 2025-26 as a recently promoted side, which partly explains the competitive nature of Dele-Bashiru’s 30 appearances despite limited direct goal contributions.
- Watford, Tom Dele-Bashiru’s parent club, have spent recent seasons in the Sky Bet Championship after their relegation from the Premier League in 2023. The Hornets have a strong history of developing and selling midfielders, with players like Nathaniel Chalobah, Etienne Capoue and Mario Suárez passing through Vicarage Road in earlier eras.
- The Greek Super League season typically runs from August to May and includes a championship play off round in the final weeks that involves the top six clubs competing for the title and European places. An Aris side strengthened with players like Dele-Bashiru would be targeting that group stage as a minimum ambition for 2026-27.
- Aris FC have a dedicated Nigerian football connection through previous signings from West Africa. The club’s scouting network has targeted Nigerian and Ghanaian players in recent seasons as part of their recruitment strategy, making Dele-Bashiru a continuation of a recruitment thread rather than a singular outlier in the club’s transfer philosophy.
