Lewis Dunk


Lewis Carl Dunk is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Brighton & Hove Albion, whom he captains, and the England national team.
Aside from a brief loan spell at Bristol City in 2013, Dunk has spent the entirety of his career at Brighton & Hove Albion. He achieved promotion to the Premier League with the club in the 2016–17 season, and became the club's captain from the 2019–20 season.
Despite failing to be capped at youth level, Dunk made his senior England debut on 15 November 2018 against the United States.

Early life

Dunk was born in Brighton, East Sussex and educated at Varndean School. He is the son of former Sussex non-league player Mark Dunk. A Chelsea fan, Dunk idolised John Terry in his youth and named his family dog 'Didier' in homage to Chelsea statesman Didier Drogba.

Club career

Brighton & Hove Albion

Early career

On 30 April 2010, Dunk signed a two-year professional contract with Brighton & Hove Albion following impressive performances captaining the club's youth team. The following day, Dunk made his first professional appearance starting in the 0–0 draw at Milton Keynes Dons. On 31 January 2011, Dunk signed a one-year extension on his contract keeping him at the club until the summer of 2013. Dunk made eight appearances in the 2010–11 season as Brighton gained promotion to the Championship as League One champions.
With fellow defenders Tommy Elphick and Adam El-Abd sidelined by injury, Dunk started the 2011–12 season alongside captain Gordon Greer, playing in Brighton's first ever match at Falmer Stadium versus Doncaster Rovers. Dunk went on to make 36 appearances in all competitions throughout the season, in Brighton's first season back in the Championship.
In the following season, however, Dunk's playing opportunities became more restricted; he featured 9 times in all competitions as he fell behind the likes of Adam El-Abd and Matthew Upson in the pecking order at Brighton.
Dunk's struggles for regular game time continued into the start of the 2013–14 season. Resultantly, on 4 October 2013, Dunk joined League One club Bristol City on a one-month loan deal, to gain some first-team football. He made his debut for the club in a 2–1 away defeat to Wycombe Wanderers on 8 October 2013, in the EFL Trophy. Upon the conclusion of his loan spell, Dunk made 11 appearances for Brighton in all competitions, including a start in the club's the 4–1 play-off semi-final second-leg defeat to Derby County on 11 May 2014.

2014–present

On 25 July 2014, Dunk signed a new four-year contract with Brighton, which kept him at the club until the end of the 2017–18 season. He scored his first goal for Brighton in the club's first match of the 2014–15 season, a 2–0 win over Cheltenham Town in the EFL Cup, which marked new boss Sami Hyypiä's first win at the club. In the 2014–15 season, Dunk made 44 appearances and scored 7 goals, making him Brighton's top scorer in all competitions for the season.
Dunk scored in Brighton's 1–1 play-off semi-final second-leg draw to Sheffield Wednesday on 16 May 2016; Brighton's 3–1 aggregate defeat condemned them to another season in the Championship.
Dunk formed a partnership at centre back with new Brighton signing Shane Duffy in the 2016–17 season, with the club conceding a joint-league best of 40 goals for the season, in which Brighton were promoted to the Premier League. In this season, Dunk was also named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year alongside fellow Brighton players David Stockdale, Bruno and Anthony Knockaert.
Dunk played the full 90 minutes, and scored an own goal, in Brighton's first ever Premier League match, a 0–2 home defeat to Manchester City. On 24 February 2018, Dunk scored his fourth own goal of the season in a 4–1 home win over Swansea City, which brought him level with Martin Škrtel at the top of the list of most own goals in a season in the Premier League. He scored his first Premier League goal in a 2–1 victory over Arsenal on 4 March 2018. Dunk played in every match in Brighton's debut season in the Premier League, as the club finished in 15th place and amassed 40 points.
On 5 October 2018, Dunk, alongside centre-back partner Shane Duffy, signed a new contract with Brighton, with the pair signing five-year contracts that extended their stays at the club until June 2023. Dunk's only goals in the 2018–19 season came in consecutive games in November 2018: a 3–1 loss to Everton and a 2–1 defeat to Cardiff City.
Ahead of the 2019–20 season, Dunk was given the Brighton captaincy by new manager Graham Potter. He subsequently captained the club in their first match of the season, a 3–0 win over Watford, whilst also putting in a man of the match performance. Dunk scored in consecutive Premier League matches for Brighton in November 2019, finding the net in defeats to both Manchester United and Liverpool. He scored his third goal of the season, and was named man of the match, in Brighton's first game back following the Premier League's hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a 2–1 win over Arsenal on 20 June 2020; Dunk equalised for Brighton before Neal Maupay scored the decisive goal. He made his 300th appearance for The Seagulls in a 3–0 home defeat against Man Utd on 30 June.

International career

Dunk is uncapped for England at youth level; his call-up to the England under-21 squad for their European Championship qualifiers against Iceland and Belgium in November 2011 marks his only youth international call-up.
In October 2018, he was called up for the first time to replace the injured James Tarkowski in the senior England squad for matches against Croatia and Spain in the Nations League. However, he did not make an appearance. In the next month Dunk was called up again for a friendly against United States and a Nations League match against Croatia. He made his debut on 15 November playing in the whole match in England's 3–0 win over the United States at Wembley Stadium. In doing so, he became the fourth Brighton player to earn a senior England cap, and the first since Steve Foster in 1982.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Brighton & Hove Albion
Individual