Stefan Ramone Sewell O'Connor (born 23 January 1997) is a former English 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 played as a defender for

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

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. O'Connor started his career with Premier League club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, signing a professional contract in October 2013. He had

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

spells with

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club York City and

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

club MVV Maastricht. He signed for Newcastle United in July 2017.

Club career

Arsenal

O'Connor was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, London. He joined

's academy in 2010 having previously been at Crystal Palace, and signed scholarship forms with the club in the summer of 2013. After impressive performances for the Arsenal U21s and for the U19s in the UEFA Youth League, he signed his first professional contract for the club on 10 October 2014. On 9 December 2014, O'Connor made his debut for Arsenal in a

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 ...

match against Galatasaray, replacing

Mathieu Debuchy Mathieu Debuchy (born 28 July 1985) is a French professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Ligue 2 club Valenciennes. Debuchy started his senior career at Lille, where he won a Ligue 1 and Coupe de France double in the 2010–11 sea ...

with 13 minutes to play as Arsenal won 4–1 away to finish second in their group. On 26 November 2015, O'Connor joined York City of

until 6 January 2016. He made his debut two days later after starting York's 5–1 home defeat to Accrington Stanley, in which he conceded a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

that was scored by

Josh Windass Joshua Dean Windass (born 9 January 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Sheffield Wednesday. He can also play as a forward. Career Early career Windass played youth football for Huddersfield Town ...

. He started at centre back, but was moved to

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

later in the match due to an injury to

Jordan Lussey Jordan Lussey (born 2 November 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Marine. He has played for Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers, York City, Southport, Telford United, Chorley, Nuneaton Borough, Curzon Ashton and A ...

, and continued to play for York in this position. He finished his loan at York with four appearances. On 5 July 2016, O'Connor joined

club MVV Maastricht on loan until end of the 2016–17 season. Having made only four appearances, the loan was ended prematurely on 14 April 2017. He was released by Arsenal at the end of 2016–17.

Newcastle United

O'Connor signed for Premier League club

on 6 July 2017 on a free transfer, to play in their under-23 team. Although he had been released by the club in June 2019, he signed a short-term contract on 5 July in order to recuperate from an

Anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

he sustained in January.

International career

O'Connor was capped for the England national under-17 team, playing two

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in 2014.

Style of play

He plays predominantly at centre back, but can also play at right back.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Stefan 1997 births Living people Footballers from Croydon English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Crystal Palace F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players York City F.C. players MVV Maastricht players Newcastle United F.C. players English Football League players Eerste Divisie players Black British sportsmen English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands People educated at Woodcote High School