Why Lewis Dunk is loved by Brighton but ignored by Premier League giants and England

After registering his 400th appearance for the club in the FA Cup win at Stoke, just how vital is he to Brighton’s charge for European football as a leader, a footballer and someone with such a connection to the club?

Having joined 20 years ago as a member of the club’s under-12s team, Dunk has built an incredible relationship with Albion, safely assuring his position as one of the most influential players in the club’s history. He has grown as both a player and a leader throughout his career, adapting to the changing status of the club and the ever-modernising style of football required to play at the top level.

Even now, in his fourth season as club captain, his impact on the club has made a potentially disruptive change of manager impossibly smooth, both in a footballing sense and in terms of the relationships within the squad. De Zerbi has taken to him instantly, with his new manager backing him as ‘the perfect captain’.

In a global footballing environment where the transfer market is such an alluring temptation for so many, Dunk’s longevity at Brighton is a significant feature of his success as club captain. Alongside his footballing prowess and leadership qualities, he has a genuine, long-term connection to Brighton and a dedication to achieve the team’s targets and goals for the good of the club and the city, rather than for his own individual reputation and those of his players.

In a season where his footballing performance has been consistently praised by so many, Dunk’s leadership has perhaps been overlooked. This is not to say that it has not been recognised at all, but rather that the job he has done, in the situation the club has recently been in, has not quite been appreciated for the incredible feat that it is. Graham Potter’s move to Chelsea was enough to seriously affect the culture and performances of the squad. Having built such momentum early in the season, as a result of a 3-year long project, to then lose the orchestrator could have derailed the squad’s progress entirely, both on a collective and individual level.

Potter left with almost the entire coaching staff, leaving a huge absence of leadership that had to be filled by Dunk. With the help of other senior players, Dunk, as captain, had to be the figurehead of the squad’s motivation to continue to build momentum and open their minds to the philosophies of the new manager. In the chaos of such change, other squads would have fallen into disarray and relationships would have been broken, but in Dunk’s squad, relationships strengthened and performances ultimately improved as De Zerbi took charge. Still, as recently as Brighton’s FA Cup win over Stoke, goalkeeper Jason Steele praised Dunk after the game as ‘an unbelievable person first and foremost. [As a] dad, husband, friend, teammate, leader, I can’t speak highly enough of him’.

This is testament to the respect and admiration that Dunk has earned within his squad and the job that he has done during this season. It is an accomplishment that cannot be overlooked and makes clear his personality and leadership skills, which continue to be huge factors in Brighton’s positive culture and growing success.

As a footballer, Dunk appears to be the perfect fit for De Zerbi’s passing style. Although he has been a regular for the club for a time stretching far earlier than the Italian’s appointment, his prowess in central defence has almost single-handedly allowed Brighton to take so easily to the extremity of De Zerbi’s pressure-inviting style.

His quality and absolute composure with the ball at his feet, wherever he is on the pitch, sets the standard and offers a perfect example to those playing around him. Dunk’s vision going forward is perhaps the most underrated side of his game. On several occasions this season, he has split defences with long passes through to Pervis Estupiñán, amongst others, often finding “assists of assists”.

There is no better example of this than in Brighton’s win over Stoke, in which the only goal came from Dunk’s ability, well inside the opposition’s half, to split Stoke’s centre-back and right-back, feeding a ball through to Kaoru Mitoma, who could play it across for an Evan Ferguson tap-in. The vision and weight of pass was of the highest quality, a pass that any and all Premier League midfielders would be proud of.

His ability to move the ball and first touch are of such a high quality, he could potentially even play in Alexis MacAllister’s deep-lying playmaker role. Both on and off the ball, Dunk is becoming increasingly recognised as one of the Premier League’s leading defenders and an invaluable footballing asset to De Zerbi and Brighton in their efforts to perfect ‘De Zerbismo’.

Whether it be as a player or as a captain, Lewis Dunk’s commitment to Brighton as a club has allowed him to grow whilst adapting to the changing direction of the club, through Championship seasons and relegation battles. But in the midst of all his successes, he is the perfect example of the merit of staying with a non-”Big Six” club. Where so many other players have jumped ship to satisfy their own needs for silverware and European football, Dunk has believed in his club and their vision, and has committed himself as a leader and a footballer to helping them achieve their goals.

Now, thirteen years on from joining Brighton, Europe, Wembley and maybe even FA Cup silverware lie in wait for Dunk, his club and his city.