Sheffield Wednesday might have dropped the ball over Fisayo Dele-Bashiru. He was allowed to walk away from Hillsborough in the summer and now he’s been called into the Nigeria squad.
It wasn’t really a surprise that he chose not to extend his contract with Wednesday. His contract expired in the summer and given that Darren Moore didn’t really fancy him he chose to sign for Hatayspor in Turkey.
He’s made a strong start to life in a different country. He has scored four goals and claimed two assists during seven appearances, averaging a goal every 158 minutes.
Dele-Bashiru called into Nigeria squad after Wednesday exit
It’s not easy to grasp why Dele-Bashiru didn’t want to stay with Wednesday beyond the summer. The youngster made 41 appearances in all competitions last season but wasn’t always a regular in the starting eleven.
He was clearly craving a club where he could be a first-team regular. Doing that at Wednesday would have been tricky and he felt that a change of pace was necessary.
Clearly, he’s impressed in Turkey. He now joins a strong Nigeria squad ahead of games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique that take place later this month.
All Nigeria Soccer confirmed this news yesterday. If Dele-Bashiru gets the nod to play for Nigeria it will be the first time he has been called upon to play international football.
Moore perhaps dropped the ball with Dele-Bashiru
The forward started just 12 games in League One last season. He played for just four minutes of the play-off campaign that Wednesday were successful in and clearly that upset him.
Moving on is probably the best thing for him. He’s kicked on already at his new club and he’s producing the goods that some people knew he was capable of at Wednesday.
Dele-Bashiru can clearly play. Although he did lots of good during his time at Wednesday, perhaps Moore not playing him robbed the Owls of a chance to keep Dele-Bashiru for longer.