Bristol City interested in Sheffield Wednesday midfielder - is it likely to happen as Blackpool make bid?

Bristol City have been linked with a late move with Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Fisayo Dele-Bashiru.

Dele-Bashiru mainly has interest abroad with offers in for the player, though so far the Owls have held their own in the negotiations after rejecting a bid from City’s Championship rivals Blackpool.

The 21-year-old midfielder has been at the Yorkshire club since the summer of 2020 after joining from Manchester City after coming through their youth ranks.

He made his debut in the Championship in the same season and has so far made 48 senior appearances for Wednesday, scoring three goals and an assist.

The German-born midfielder however is now attracting interest from other clubs with deadline day moving ever closer which could force the League One side into a decision.

A report from sister website the Sheffield Star says that City are ‘keeping tabs’ on the midfielder, but that because of the ‘precariousness’ of his future, it would remain to be seen if anything comes from it.

Besiktas and Antalyaspor, two clubs from the Turkish Super League are credited with interest with both clubs adding him to their list of transfer targets.

The player in question is out-of-contract next summer so Wednesday have a decision to either sell him in either this window or in January or risk losing him on a free transfer.

He has so far played in three league games this season but was named as an unused substitute in their matches against Peterborough United and Bolton Wanderers in the last week, whilst he didn't play against Sunderland.

City and Wednesday are already on good terms after the two were able to agree on a fee for Tyreeq Bakinson who made the move to Hillsborough earlier this summer, where he has settled in well.

Dele-Bashiru is predominantly a centre midfielder, but that isn’t a position of priority when wanting to strengthen the side according to Nigel Pearson.

Speaking a fortnight ago after an injury to midfielder Matty James, the Robins boss was asked whether a defensive midfielder remained a priority.

He responded by saying: “It’s not been the priority. We need a centre-back and options throughout the side.

“If a central midfield player was doable or became available then that’s a conversation to have then that’s a conversation to have then, but at the moment no, our priorities lie elsewhere.”

City haven’t got much money at their disposal to conduct any transfer deals but have been open to trading players should the other club be interested in any of their players.

Their current senior midfield options are Matty James, Joe Williams, Han-Noah Massengo, Alex Scott and Andy King, though Scott was deployed as a wing-back on Sunday in the absence of Mark Sykes.

Former Cardiff City and Leeds United defender Sol Bamba remains at the High Performance Centre as he continues to train but dismissed a question when asked by Sky Sports about him crossing the ‘Severn divide’ having been a pundit for the Severnside Derby.