On Monday 2nd October, Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro named Fisayo Dele-Bashiru in a 25-man squad for this month’s international friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique.
Both matches are scheduled to hold in Portugal on Friday, October 13 and Monday, October 16 respectively.
Of course, the name that got the most attention was that of Fisayo Dele-Bashiru. It is his first-ever international call-up and he is delighted to represent Nigeria in the green and white jersey.
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Who is Fisayo Dele-Bashiru?
The attacking midfielder was born in Hamburg, Germany to Nigerian parents, but has spent most of his life in England. That means he is eligible to represent any of the three countries.
However, he has not played for any of the countries.
The 22-year-old is the brother of ex-Flying Eagles midfielder Tom Dele-Bashiru (24). The brothers graduated from Manchester City’s academy.
Fisayo’s elder brother was part of Nigeria’s Flying Eagles squad to the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Poland.
In 2020, Fisayo joined Sheffield Wednesday and appeared in over 80 matches for the Championship club.
To put it in context, his 86 appearances in Wednesday’s colours saw him register six goals and five assists.
After a commendable spell in the Championship, the gifted midfielder teamed up with Turkish Super Lig outfit Hatayaspor in July.
In the ongoing Turkish Süper Lig season, Fisayo has scored four goals and created two assists in seven games for Hatayspor.
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Manchester City Academy coach Ben Wilkinson, who worked closely with Dele-Bashiru, told Yorkshire that the young player is “very dynamic and very strong.”
“Athletically, he is as good as anything I have ever seen in terms of his power. In a one v one duel, I have yet to see anyone touch him,” Wilkinson told Yorkshire Live.
“… At his best, he is a very, very good player. He’s a box-to-box midfielder. He can get forward and get himself a goal. But he is also more than capable of doing the defensive job.
“The key for him, and something I have spoken to him regularly about, is consistency.”
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru will now hope to get his debut in either of the upcoming matches happening soon.
Super Eagles’ 25-man list breakdown
Also included in the Super Eagles’list for the matches include Terem Moffi and Alex Iwobi. Both players were left out of the last squad that faces Sao Tome and Principe.
Gent forward Gift Orban is missing this time after being included in the last squad list.
Another player in contention to make his Super Eagles debut is Jordan Torunarigha who gets his second invitation.
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Torunarigha is Orban’s teammate at Belgian club Gent. The 26-year-old, a left-footed centre-back, joined the club in January 2022 and has made over 70 appearances for them.
Based in Belgium, Torunarigha has been cleared by FIFA to represent the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, only one locally-based player makes the squad for the two international friendly matches against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique. Ojo Olorunleke is goalkeeper for Enyimba Int’l Football Club. The Aba-based team are the current champions of the NPFL.
Bruno Onyemaechi and Raphael Onyedika are among the selected players.
The two Victors – Boniface and Osimhen – as well as Nottingham Forest top striker Taiwo Awoniyi lead the attack.
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