Abdul-Yussuf Adedeji Adeniyi "Deji" Oshilaja (born 16 July 1993) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a defender for

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

Career

Cardiff City

Born in

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, a ...

, Oshilaja joined

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

as a 16-year-old, progressing through the academy to sign his first professional contract in April 2012. His professional debut for Cardiff came on 14 August 2012, in a 2–1 defeat to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

in the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

. Oshilaja made his second appearance in another cup game in the new year, which also resulted in a 2–1 loss against

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

. Despite this, Manager

Malky Mackay Malcolm George Mackay (born 19 February 1972) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who is currently the manager of Ross County. Mackay, who played as a defender, began his playing career in Scottish football with Quee ...

praised Oshilaja's performance, describing it as "great courage". At the end of the season, Oshilaja was offered a new contract by the club. On 31 October 2013, Oshilaja joined Newport County on a one-month loan. He made his Football League début for Newport on 2 November 2013 versus

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

. He scored his first goal for Newport in the 3–0 win versus

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

match on 12 November 2013. His loan spell at Newport was extended and he returned to Cardiff City in January 2014, which he made eight appearances for the club. On 7 February 2014, Oshilaja was loaned to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

until 12 March. He then made his Sheffield Wednesday debut on 11 February 2014, playing as a centre-back, in a 3–0 loss against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. His second appearance came on 12 March 2014, also came against Wigan, which Sheffield Wednesday lost 1–0 for the second time in the 2013–14 season. Oshilaja loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday was extended until the end of the season. However, Oshilaja never made another appearance for the club and returned to Cardiff City. On 8 January 2015, Oshilaja was loaned to

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

until the end of the season. Oshilaja made his Wimbledon debut three days later, on 11 January 2015, in a 2–1 loss against

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

. Oshilaja then scored his first goal for the club on 7 March 2015, in a 2–1 win over

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

. After making twenty-three appearances for the club, Oshilaja's performance saw him being awarded Natalie Callow Memorial Trophy for AFCW Young Player of the Year. and returned to his parent club on 16 June 2015. Oshilaja was sent out on a six-month loan to Gillingham on 24 July 2015, where he scored on the opening day of the season, in a 4–0 win against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. Three weeks later on 29 August 2015, Oshilaja scored his second goal of the season against

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

. However, Oshilaja suffered a knee injury during the match and was sidelined for two months. After two months on the sidelines, Oshilaja made his return in the first team, in the quarter final of the Football League Trophy, against

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

, in which he made his first start. Having formed a strong defensive partnership with John Egan in the first half of the season, Oshilaja was recalled by Cardiff in January. He later returned to the club on 14 March 2016 for a second loan spell until the end of the season. On 6 July 2016 he re-joined Gillingham on a season-long loan.

AFC Wimbledon

On 8 June 2017, Oshilaja agreed a deal to join

on 1 July, following the expiration of his contract with Cardiff. He was named captain for AFC Wimbledon for the 2018–19 season.. In May 2019, Wimbledon released Oshilaja.

Charlton Athletic

On 22 July 2019, Oshilaja was signed by Charlton Athletic following his release from AFC Wimbledon for free on a two-year deal. He scored his first goal for Charlton in a 2-0 win against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

on 6 February 2021. On 18 May 2021, it was announced that Oshilaja would leave Charlton Athletic at the end of his contract.

Burton Albion

On 10 June 2021, Oshilaja signed for

Personal life

Born in England, Oshilaja is of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

n descent.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Player of the Year: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oshilaja, Deji 1993 births Living people Footballers from Bermondsey English footballers Association football defenders Cardiff City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Gillingham F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players English Football League players English sportspeople of Nigerian descent Black British sportsmen