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Dale Stephens

Stephens

Date of Birth
12/06/1989
Signed
30/01/2014

Dale Stephens

Dale Stephens joined Albion at the end of the January transfer window in 2014 from Charlton Athletic.

The midfielder started his career at Bury, making his professional debut for the then League Two club during the 2006/07 season, before moving onto Oldham Athletic.

He had loan spells with Rochdale and Southampton, and having made 63 appearances for the Latics, was signed by Charlton Athletic for an undisclosed fee.

He was a key part of the Addicks' 2011/12 League One-winning squad, going on to make 90 appearances during his time at The Valley, as well as chipping in with 11 goals.

After two-and-a-half years with Charlton, the midfielder made the move to Albion and netted his first goal for the club with a late header in a 3-3 draw at Blackburn Rovers and also found the net in style during a 1-1 draw with Blackpool at the Amex.

However, Stephens’ 2013/14 season was brought to a premature end through injury and didn’t feature again for nine months, returning in February 2015 away at Cardiff City to help the side secure Championship safety.

The 31-year-old missed just one league game for the Seagulls during the 2015/16 campaign and scored the equalising goal in the club's 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough on the final day of the season.

The midfielder was a mainstay in the middle of the park during Albion's promotion campaign, and scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Wigan Athletic at the DW stadium in October - en route to securing promotion to the Premier League with the Seagulls.

Days after the final game of the 2016/17 season, Stephens signed a new four-year-deal with the club.

His Premier League debut came against Manchester City at the Amex Stadium, and the influential midfielder went on to miss just two top-flight games as the Seagulls finished 15th.

Stephens fired his only goal of the 2017/18 season against Crystal Palace in the Emirates FA Cup, as he helped the club reach the quarter-finals of the competition.

The midfielder went onto make his 300th league start with Albion in 2018/19, after being named in the side that lost 3-1 to Everton in October 2018.

He passed the 200 Albion appearances mark during the 2019/20 season, as he helped the club achieve a record points tally of 41 in the Premier League.