Jason Sean Steele is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion.
Steele progressed through Middlesbrough's youth system, signing his first professional contract with the club in 2009. He made his debut in the 2010–11 season, and eventually became their first-choice goalkeeper within their Championship campaign. Steele represented England at all youth levels; his positive performances led him to being called-up to the Great Britain Olympic team for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games held in London, making a singular appearance against Brazil at the Riverside Stadium. Steele maintained his role at Middlesbrough for three seasons, though the arrivals of Dimitrios Konstantopoulos and Tomas Mejias in the 2013–14 season saw Steele's position at the club become threatened; he left at the end of that season.
In the 2014–15 season, Steele joined fellow Championship club Blackburn Rovers on loan. He then signed for them on a permanent basis at the beginning of the 2015 winter transfer window. He quickly established himself as their first-choice goalkeeper though in the 2016–17 season, Blackburn were relegated to League One, which acuminated in Steele's departure to Sunderland, who were newly-relegated to the Championship for the 2017–18 league campaign. Steele's tenure at Sunderland was a sour note: he lost his intended role of first-choice goalkeeper to Robbin Ruiter and then Lee Camp and the club were relegated to League One at the end of the season, which meant that both Sunderland and Steele (as a player) had suffered two consecutive relegations. The events of the season led to a Netflix documentary entitled Sunderland 'Til I Die being produced, which was released in December 2018. He left Sunderland after one season, joining Brighton & Hove Albion. |
