George David Dobson (born 15 November 1997) is an English

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 ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

. He is a versatile player who can play as a defensive midfielder or as a centre-back, having mainly played as the latter as a youth player.

Early life

Dobson attended Brentwood School in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

between 2009 and 2014 until the age of 16. This is the same school as retired international footballer

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...

Club career

Dobson started his career as a youth player at Arsenal aged 8 before joining

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

on 28 July 2015. Dobson, aged 17 at the time, was placed straight into the club's U21 side and played frequently during the 2015–16 season. At Arsenal, Dobson was played as a centre-back. However, much to the player's delight, West Ham trained him into a central midfielder, often playing in a holding or defensive role. He is a boyhood West Ham United fan and this helped in the decision of joining the club in 2015. On 29 June 2016, Dobson signed for

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

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

on a season-long loan. He made his debut in the EFL Cup in a 2–0 home defeat to

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

. He started the match before being substituted on the 69th minute. His league debut came on 16 August when he started the match in a 0–2 defeat at Chesterfield. On 16 July 2017, it was announced Dobson had signed for

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

side Sparta Rotterdam for an undisclosed fee. He re-joined

on a two-and-a-half-year contract during the 2017–18 January

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer wi ...

. On 25 July 2019, Dobson signed for Sunderland on a three-year deal. He scored his first goal for Sunderland in an EFL Cup tie against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

on 28 August 2019. In the 2020-21 season, Dobson had become a fringe figure at Sunderland, starting only three league games. Despite being unhappy at his lack of gametime, he reportedly turned down potential moves away from the club, until on 22 January 2021, when it was announced that Dobson had joined

side AFC Wimbledon on loan for the remainder of the season. He scored his first goal for Wimbledon in a 1-1 draw with

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on 16 March 2021. Dobson joined

on 1 July 2021, signing a two-year deal with the club. In December 2022, following the appointment of

Dean Holden Dean Thomas John Holden (born 15 September 1979) is an English manager who is currently the manager of League One club Charlton Athletic. During a career which began at Bolton Wanderers in 1998 and ended with a two-year stint at Walsall from 201 ...

as manager, Dobson was given the captaincy to take over from

Jayden Stockley Jayden Connor Stockley (born 15 September 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL League One side Fleetwood Town. Career AFC Bournemouth Born in Poole, Dorset, Stockley started his career as a youth player ...

Career statistics

Honours

Individual * Charlton Athletic Player of the Year: 2021–22

References

External links

*
George Dobson's official Instagram
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, George Living people 1997 births West Ham United F.C. players Association football midfielders Arsenal F.C. players Walsall F.C. players English footballers Footballers from Romford People from Harold Wood English Football League players Sparta Rotterdam players Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands English expatriate footballers Eredivisie players Tweede Divisie players Sunderland A.F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Charlton Athletic F.C. players