Gavin Okeroghene Bazunu (born 20 February 2002) is an Irish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and the Republic of Ireland national team. Bazunu started his career at

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

, making his first team debut in June 2018 at the age of 16, before joining

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in February 2019. He spent the 2020–21 season on loan at

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and the 2021–22 season on loan at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. An Irish youth international, he made his senior international debut in 2021.

Early and personal life

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Bazunu was raised in the suburb of

Firhouse Firhouse () is an outer suburb of Dublin, in the county of South Dublin, in the south of the traditional County Dublin in Ireland. It developed from a rural village by the River Dodder, with a second settlement, Upper Fir-house, nearby.Dublin, 1 ...

. He is of Irish, and Nigerian descent. His brother Todd is a goalkeeper at U17 level with

Club career

Shamrock Rovers

Having come through the academy at

, Bazunu made his debut for Rovers' first team on 9 June 2018 in a 5–0 win at home to

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''B ...

, at the age of 16. Manager Stephen Bradley stated that despite not wanting to 'throw oung goalkeepersin that early', Bazunu was 'ready' for his first-team debut. He made three further appearances for Shamrock Rovers in the

2018 League of Ireland Premier Division The 2018 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 34th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The league began on 16 February 2018 and concluded on 26 October 2018. On 5 October, Dundalk won the title after a 1–1 draw with St P ...

. These included a penalty save at

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...

which meant he kept four clean sheets out of four in the league. Bazunu also made two appearances in the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic St ...

Manchester City

On 6 September 2018, it was announced that Bazunu had joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

for an undisclosed fee reported to be £420,000, though a joining date had not been set, with Bazunu wishing to complete his education in the Irish education system. The following month, it was announced he has signed a pre-contract agreement with Manchester City, with it initially agreed he would join the club in summer 2019, before it was moved forward to February 2019. He made his debut for Manchester City's under-18 side on 9 February 2019 against Stoke City U18. Bazunu was named in Manchester City's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

squad for a

Round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

second leg match against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

in August 2020.

Loans to Rochdale and Portsmouth

He signed a contract extension with Manchester City until 2024 and joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

on a season-long loan later that month. He started and kept a clean sheet on his debut for Rochdale on 5 September 2020 in a 1–0

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

victory away to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

, and made his first league appearance the following week in a 3–1 defeat at

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

. On 1 July 2021, he moved on loan to

for the 2021–22 season. He was named as the club's Players' Player and Player of the Season.

Southampton

On 17 June 2022, Bazunu joined Southampton on a five-year contract for a reported fee of £12 million. On 6 August 2022, Bazunu made his first

appearance for Southampton in a 4–1 defeat to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. Bazunu got his first clean sheet in the Premier League and for Southampton on 19 October 2022 in a 0–1 victory against

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

International career

Bazunu has played for the Republic of Ireland at under-17 and under-21 youth levels. He played for the under-17s at the

2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (37th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football cham ...

. In March 2021, he was called into the senior Republic of Ireland team for the first time, for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He made his senior debut in a 1–0 defeat on 27 March 2021 against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Individual * Premier League Save of the Month: November / December 2022 * Portsmouth Player of the Season: 2021–22 * RTÉ Young Sportsperson of the Year: 2021 * FAI Young International Player of the Year: 2021 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 2021–22 League One

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bazunu, Gavin 2002 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Irish people of Nigerian descent Association footballers from Dublin (city) Men's association football goalkeepers Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Southampton F.C. players League of Ireland players English Football League players Premier League players Black Irish sportspeople Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England