A Star in the Making? Liverpool’s Dean Bouzanis

Liverpool’s Australian goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis is talked about in his home country as being one of the finest goalkeeping talents to ever come out of Australia. He was certainly seen as a talented footballer at a young age and after playing in the New South Wales State League for St Georges Saints at the age of 14, he joined the New South Wales Institute of Sport. At the Institute he was spotted by scouts from Liverpool and was invited on a three week trial to train with the Liverpool first team in January 2007. He impressed the coaching staff enough to be offered a three year contract but he didn’t join the club straight away.

He initially returned to Australia on loan to Sydney United and he was included in the squad as back-up to regular first team keeper Clint Bolton for the 2007 AFC Champions League. He did not appear during the tournament and he returned to Liverpool to start his career on Merseyside in September 2007, a month before his 17th birthday. Bouzanis talked about his first weeks at Liverpool with goal.com:

“Obviously when I first came over I was excited to see these types of players; it was an amazing feeling to actually see and play with them. But over time you get to see that they’re normal people and that they’re normal team-mates, as if you were playing back home or anywhere in the world. When I first signed Stevie [Gerrard] came up to me and introduced himself which makes you feel right at home and he does that with all the young players. To have the club captain – who you’ve never spoken to in your life – come up to you, is something that’s good for you.”

During the 2007/08 season, he started many games for the Liverpool Academy side after making his debut against Nottingham Forest in a 3-0 win. He also made his debut for the reserves in December 2007 although he was yet to be a regular. In the early part of 2008 though, he courted some controversy in his native Australia after opting to play for the Greece Under 19s. Australian by birth but with Greek parents, Bouzanis is eligible to play for either country and many were upset back in Australia that he might play for Greece’s senior team. It is a thorny issue back in Australia as players such as Josip Simunic have opted against playing for the country of their birth and gone to play for their country’s of origin.

Bouzanis however still has time to decide who he wants to play for as he only gets tied to one country if he is capped for a senior team. He was called up for Australia at U17 level and was also selected for a Australian Under 23 squad to play in the Intercontinental Cup in Malaysia in April 2008 after his dalliance with Greece. The issue of his allegiance was so serious that Australian national coach Pim Verbeek flew to Liverpool to meet with Bouzanis in the same month as his Under 23 call up. Bouzanis has since stated he wants to play for Australia and played in the U-20 World Cup last year in Egypt. He played in two of the matches but the young Aussies finished bottom of the group. Australian goalkeeping coach Tony Franken spoke about his performances in the tournament:

“Dean didn’t really make saves that made a difference in our campaign and he probably agreed with us.”

Franken however is a close admirer of Bouzanis and has followed his career since he spotted the player playing in the U15 nationals in New South Wales. He speaks about him in the same breath as Mark Schwarzer and believed there was even a possibility of the keeper making Australia’s train-on squad for the World Cup. Franken certainly has coach Pim Verbeek’s ear and Bouzanis will no doubt be in the national team’s thoughts in the not-too distant future. According to Franken, Brazil 2014 should be Bouzanis’s target:

“There’s a major possibility [Bouzanis could go to Brazil]. I’d like to think that he would continue to play at League Two level or possibly move into League One or Championship level like Adam Federici and Brad Jones; that’s the level we’d expect him to be playing at and by all means he would be in contention for Brazil 2014.”

Nicknamed the “Sponge,” by World Cup 1974 Australian veteran goalkeeper and mentor Jim Fraser, he is a natural shot stopper whose biggest attributes are ball distribution and the command of his area. He helped the Liverpool Under 18s to the FA Youth Cup final in 2008/09 season and has played intermittently for the reserves side. In November 2009, he was sent out on loan to League Two side Accrington Stanley to gain more first team experience and he has learned many things during his loan spell. He made his debut in the FA Cup in November last year against Barnet and he displaced Ian Dunbavin as first choice keeper between December 2009 and January 2010. His loan was extended until the end of the season but he lost his starting role to Dunbavin after individual errors and injury cost him his place. He did however play 14 matches for the League Two side and both the Liverpool coaching staff and Tony Franken felt it did him some good. Bouzanis himself said he learned to cope with the physical nature of the game, adapting to play against men rather than boys. He will most likely go out on loan again next season but Bouzanis has just signed a new two year contract extension to keep him at Liverpool until 2012. He looks like a very good prospect indeed.

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