Dean Bouzanis (born October 2 1990, in Sydney, Australia) is an Greek Australian football goalkeeper. He is currently signed to Liverpool.

Biography

Club career

Bouzanis is of Greek origin and he attended De La Salle College in Cronulla ^[1] His talents were first seen at his local soccer club, Carss Park, whilst playing in the under 9s ^[2] alongside close friend Nikolas Tsattalios. Bouzanis then went on to play in the NSW State League for St George Saints at 14 before joining the NSW Institute of Sport.

Bouzanis spent three weeks with Liverpool F.C. first team squad in January 2007 and was offered a three year deal. ^[1] Liverpool's manager Rafael Benitez and goalkeeping coach have rated him as the best goalkeeper in the world of his age. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

He was loaned to A-League side Sydney FC as understudy to Clint Bolton and was included in the club's squad for their AFC Champions League 2007 campaign, ^[6] but did not appear at the tournament. The loan spell was expected to be extended until January 2008, but after Sydney delisted him from the club, ^[7] it was decided by the Reds’ goalkeeping staff to fasttrack his program:

“They wanted to put me straight into action and fast track my process with the reserves side but more importantly, I’ll be starting pre-season with the senior squad”. ^[8] - Dean Bouzanis

He made his first appearance after arriving in the UK on a full-time basis for Liverpool's Academy (Under-18's) side on 8 September, 2007, keeping a clean sheet as they beat Nottingham Forest F.C.'s academy side 3-0. ^[9] He had previously played in two under-18's matches for the club against Stoke and West Bromwich Albion while on trial with the club. ^[10] On 4 December, 2007, Dean made his debut for Liverpool Reserves keeping a clean sheet in their 3-0 win over Everton.

International career

Bouzanis recieved his first call up to the Australian U17 side in 2005 at the age of 15. ^[1] He was also later included in the squad for Australia's unsuccessful 2006 AFC U17 Championships qualifying campaign. ^[11]

On February 2 2008, Bouzanis officially received a call-up from the Greek FA youth manager Alexis Alexiou to represent the youth team against Slovakia on February 5 2008. ^[12] Bouzanis visited Greece on February 3 2008 for an interview with Greek radio station SportFM ^[13], and also to participate in the friendly against Slovakia. He played the full 90 minutes for Greece, keeping a clean sheet in the process.

Despite playing for the Greek team Bouzanis is still currently elibile to play for either the Greek or Australian full international sides ^{[14] [4] [15]} Bouzanis has given three reasons why he might choose Greece "First, due to my origin; second, because it's the European champion; and third, because the trips won't be too far." however he is also in contact with Australian football authorities. ^[4], the Australian press have stated that his departure would be a "disaster" ^[14] likening it to the loss of Joey Didulica to the Croatian national side. ^[16]

References

External links

• Liverpool FC Profile