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Dean John Hammond (born 7 March 1983 in Hastings) is a British football player for Southampton in League One.

[edit] Football career

During the early stages of his career at Brighton, Dean had loan spells at lower league teams twice in 2003, first to Aldershot during September, and secondly to Leyton Orient in October. He was given a six-month ultimatum at the start of the 2004–05 season by then manager Mark McGhee, Hammond impressed and was awarded a new deal that summer.

At the beginning of the 2005–06 season he was handed the vacant number 11 shirt at the club, and became a first-team regular, either playing on the left hand side of midfield or in his preferred natural position of central midfield. In the 2006–07 season he was handed the captain's armband at the club after injuries to both Richard Carpenter and Charlie Oatway. At the end of January 2007, Carpenter was released by Brighton, so Hammond became the new official club captain.

At the start of the 2007–08 season, Hammond had one-year remaining on his contact at the Withdean, manager Dean Wilkins was keen to offer Hammond a new deal, with the club and representitives for the player beginning talks in October 2007. During January 2008, it was revealed that Hammond stated that he would only sign a new deal for the club if they showed the ambition of returning to the Championship, Dick Knight truly responded with the £300,000 capture of striker Glenn Murray from Rochdale. Although this didn't persuade Dean that the club was moving forward and in the right direction, so therefore the club placed him on the transfer list with little more than a week of the transfer window remaining. On 30 January, it was revealed that Brighton had accepted an offer of £250,000 plus add-ons for the player. Hammond completed the deal the following day, moving to Colchester United.

On 19 August 2009, Hammond signed a 3 year contract with Southampton for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal against Oldham Athletic, and made the scoresheet again a week later, against MK Dons.

[edit] External links

• Dean Hammond player profile at cu-fc.com
• Dean Hammond player profile at seagulls.co.uk
• Dean Hammond career stats at Soccerbase