Fin Stevens

Finley John Stevens (born 10 April 2003) is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back for EFL League One club Oxford United, on loan from Premier League club Brentford.

Fin Stevens
Stevens (right) playing for Worthing in 2020
Personal information
Full name Finley John Stevens[1]
Date of birth (2003-04-10) 10 April 2003
Place of birth Brighton, England[2]
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)[3]
Position(s) Right-back, midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Oxford United
(on loan from Brentford)
Number 15
Youth career
2009–2019 Arsenal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2019–2020 Worthing 13 (1)
2020– Brentford 3 (0)
2022–2023 → Swansea City (loan) 5 (0)
2023– → Oxford United (loan) 10 (1)
International career‡
2021– Wales U21 14 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:25, 23 October 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21:52, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

Stevens is a graduate of the Arsenal Academy and began his senior career in non-League football with Worthing. He began his professional career with Brentford in 2020. Stevens has been capped by the Wales under-21 national team at international level.

Club career

Early years

Stevens began his career in the Arsenal Academy at the age of six.[4] He progressed to U16 level, before being released at the end of the 2018–19 season and entering the youth system at Isthmian League Premier Division club Worthing.[4][5] Stevens quickly broke into the first team squad and made 20 appearances during the abandoned 2019–20 season, scoring one goal.[6][7] He was developed as a right back and encouraged to play in central midfield.[6] Stevens departed Woodside Road in July 2020.[5]

2020–21

On 28 July 2020, Stevens transferred to the B team at Brentford on a two-year contract, with the option of a further year,[5] for an undisclosed fee.[8] A number of players on international duty saw Stevens called into the first team squad on the opening day of the 2020–21 season and he remained an unused substitute during an EFL Cup first round shoot-out victory over Wycombe Wanderers.[9][10] Three weeks later, he made his debut for the club as a substitute for Saïd Benrahma after 79 minutes of a 3–0 fourth round victory over West London rivals Fulham.[11] Stevens became a permanent addition to the first team training group and was an unused substitute on 28 occasions during the 2020–21 regular season.[6][10] He made four further appearances before signing a new three-year contract,[10] with a one-year option, on 11 May 2021.[12] Stevens failed to appear during Brentford's three 2021 playoff matches, but he won a promotion medal by virtue of being an unused substitute during the Final victory over Swansea City.[10][13] In recognition of his performances for both the first team and B team during the 2020–21 season, Stevens was awarded the B Team Player of the Year award.[14]

2021–22

Stevens trained with the first team group during the 2021–22 pre-season and was named in each matchday squad during the period.[15][16][17][18][19][20] He was a frequent inclusion in the first team group and on the substitutes' bench during the regular season.[10][21] Following two cup appearances, Stevens made his Premier League debut as a substitute for Sergi Canós after 76 minutes of a 4–1 defeat to Southampton on 11 January 2022.[10] He finished the 2021–22 season with four first team appearances.[22] During the 2022 off-season, Stevens' progress was recognised with promotion into the first team squad and a new five-year contract, with a one year option.[23]

2022–23

Stevens began the 2022–23 season behind new signing Aaron Hickey, Mads Roerslev and stand-in Kristoffer Ajer in the right back pecking order.[24] Following just a single EFL Cup start during the opening month of the season,[25] Stevens joined Championship club Swansea City on a season-long loan on the final day of the summer transfer window.[26] He made just five substitute appearances before being recalled on 1 January 2023.[27] During the second half of the 2022–23 season, Stevens made four appearances during the B team's Premier League Cup-winning campaign.[10][28] He was a regular inclusion on the first team substitutes' bench, but failed to make any appearances prior to the end of the season.[10]

2023–24

On 29 June 2023, Stevens joined League One club Oxford United on loan for the duration of the 2023–24 season.[29] He began the season in a mixture of starting and substitute roles and scored the first professional goal of his career in a 3–0 win over Shrewsbury Town on 3 October 2023.[10]

International career

Because of his Cardiff-born grandfather,[30] Stevens was contacted by Wales under-21 manager Paul Bodin in January 2021, about the possibility of pledging his international allegiance to Wales.[31] In March 2021, Stevens was called into the Wales under-21 squad for a training camp and friendly match versus Republic of Ireland under-21.[6] He played the full 90 minutes of the 2–1 defeat.[32] Ahead of the U21 team's first match of the 2022–23 season, Stevens was named vice-captain of the squad by incoming manager Matt Jones.[33]

Career statistics
As of match played 21 October 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals Apps GoalsAppsGoals
Worthing 2019–20[7] Isthmian League Premier Division 13 1 0 0 ― 7[lower-alpha 3] 0 20 1
Brentford 2020–21[11] Championship 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 5 0
2021–22[22] Premier League 1 0 2 0 1 0 ― 4 0
2022–23[25] Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 ― 0 0
Total 3 0 4 0 2 0 0 0 9 0
Swansea City (loan) 2022–23[25] Championship 5 0 ― ― ― 5 0
Oxford United (loan) 2023–24[34] League One 10 1 0 0 1 0 1[lower-alpha 4] 0 12 1
Career total 3124030 8 0462
  1. Includes FA Cup
  2. Includes EFL Cup
  3. 3 appearances in Isthmian League Cup, 2 appearances in FA Trophy, 2 appearances in Sussex Senior Challenge Cup
  4. Appearance in EFL Trophy

Honours

Brentford

Brentford B

Individual

References
  1. "Notification of shirt numbers: Brentford" (PDF). p. 12. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  2. Fin Stevens at WorldFootball.net
  3. "Finley Stevens – Defender – First Team". Oxford United F.C. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  4. Critchlow, Dan (24 April 2019). "Exclusive: Finley Stevens speaks after being released by Arsenal's academy". Daily Cannon. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  5. "Fin Stevens signs for Brentford B". Brentford F.C. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  6. Harris, Jay. "Fin Stevens: From non-League to the Premier League in just 676 days". The Athletic. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  7. "Worthing | Appearances | Fin Stevens | 2019–2020". Football Web Pages. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  8. "2020 Summer Transfer Window round-up". Brentford F.C. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  9. "Nine players gearing up for international action this weekend". Brentford F.C. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  10. Fin Stevens at Soccerway. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  11. "Games played by Fin Stevens in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  12. "Fin Stevens signs new three-year contract". Brentford F.C. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  13. Vincent, Gareth (29 May 2021). "Brentford 2–0 Swansea City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  14. "Fin Stevens wins Mary Halder Award for 2020/21 season". Brentford F.C. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  15. "AFC Wimbledon 0 Brentford 1". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  16. "Boreham Wood 0 Brentford 2". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  17. "Brentford beat Watford in pre-season friendly". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  18. "Manchester United 2 Brentford 2". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  19. "Brentford vs West Ham United". West Ham United. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  20. "Ajer starts as Valencia visit TW8". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  21. "New coaches add quality says Thomas Frank". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  22. "Games played by Fin Stevens in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  23. "Fin Stevens Signs New Contract". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  24. Bennett, Dan (9 January 2023). "The January decisions still facing Brentford following Schade signing". West London Sport. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  25. "Games played by Fin Stevens in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  26. "Stevens joins Swansea". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  27. "Stevens returns from Swansea". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  28. "Brentford B 2 Blackburn U21 1". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  29. "Stevens loaned to Oxford". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  30. "Young Guns How They Qualify". Wales Football – dragonsoccer – Welsh International Football. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  31. "Wales aim to secure Banks and Stevens". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  32. "Joe Adams nets for Wales U21 as four Brentford B players feature in international friendly". Brentford F.C. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  33. "New Era For Cymru U21 Starts With Austria Test". FAW. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  34. "Games played by Fin Stevens in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
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