Lewis Grabban

Crystal Palace

After joining Crystal Palace at the age of 13, he was handed his debut in a 3–0 home win against Walsall in the League Cup on 23 August 2005. He made his second appearance in the following round, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 win against Coventry City on 20 September. In May 2006, he was named 'Academy Scholar of the Year'.

On 16 August 2006, he joined Oldham Athletic on an initial one-month loan deal. He made his debut on 19 August in a 1–0 loss against future club Millwall. The loan deal was extended a day before it was due to expire on 15 September, keeping Grabban at Oldham for another month. After making 10 appearances for the club, he was recalled by Crystal Palace on 10 October 2006.

He returned to Crystal Palace and made his league debut on 20 February 2007, in a 1–0 away win against Southend United. On 14 March 2007, he scored his first professional goal in a 3–2 win against West Brom.

On 31 August 2007, he joined Scottish side Motherwell on loan until January 2008. He made his debut on 3 September in a 2–0 defeat to Hearts. His loan ended on 2 January and he returned to Crystal Palace, playing in a 3–0 win against Wolves 10 days later. A week later he played in his final game before joining Millwall, a 2–0 win against Bristol City at Selhurst Park.

Millwall

On 21 January 2008, Grabban signed for Palace's London rivals Millwall for £150,000 on a three-and-a-half year contract, and he was assigned the shirt number 10. He made his debut on 23 January in a 2–2 draw against Nottingham Forest at The Den. He scored his first goal for Millwall on 23 February in a 3–0 home win against Port Vale. He then scored in the following two games, scoring an equaliser to earn Millwall a 1–1 draw away to Luton Town, and opening the scoring in the first minute of a 2–1 win against Swansea City.

On the opening day of the 2008–09 season, Grabban scored in a 4–3 defeat to Oldham Athletic. His goal at the time had given Milwall a 3–1 lead, however Oldham sensationally managed to come back and win the game 4–3. On 30 August, he scored in a 2–1 win against Huddersfield Town, and scored again the following game which was a 2–0 win against Hartlepool United.

He began to find form as he scored 4 goals in 9 matches, all of which were wins, against Swindon Town, Colchester United, Hereford United and Chester. Millwall finished 5th in the table, and after defeating Leeds United in the play-off semi-finals, they lost 3–2 to Scunthorpe United in the final at Wembley.

Brentford

On 25 March 2010, Grabban signed for Brentford on loan until the end of the season. On 27 March he made his debut and scored as Brentford beat Leyton Orient 1–0 at Griffin Park. His next and final goal of the loan spell came in a 3–0 home victory against Huddersfield Town on 10 April. He scored twice in 7 appearances before being recalled by parent club Millwall on 21 April. Brentford manager Andy Scott said: "He's done really well for us and we are very disappointed to lose him". The following season, he re-joined Brentford on loan for one month on 8 October 2010. He made his second debut the following day, in a 3–1 home defeat to Oldham Athletic. He scored his first goal in a 1–1 draw against Bournemouth on 2 November, scoring a penalty just eight minutes after coming on as a substitute. The following day his loan spell was extended for another two months, keeping him at the club until 4 January. On 24 January 2011, Grabban signed permanently for Brentford on a free transfer, with his contract lasting until the end of the season. After scoring in games against MK Dons and Walsall, he scored twice in a 4–4 draw with Huddersfield Town on 7 May 2011, which was also his last appearances for the club. Grabban made 32 appearances and scored 7 goals across his three spells with the Bees.

Rotherham

On 4 July 2011, Grabban signed for League Two side Rotherham United, on a two-year deal. He had previously worked with manager Andy Scott during his time at Brentford.

He made his debut on 6 August, and scored a stunning volley with the outside of his foot from the edge of the box, as Rotherham beat Oxford United 1–0 at Don Valley Stadium. He scored his second goal for the club on 27 August in a 3–0 home win against Gillingham, taking Rotherham to the top of the league in the process. On 10 September he scored twice as Rotherham beat Dagenham & Redbridge 3–1. A week later he scored twice in one game again, in a 3–3 draw with Torquay United. In October he scored in back to back games in the space of three days, in draws to Shrewsbury and Morecambe. In November, he scored in three consecutive wins, including two league wins against Aldershot and Bradford City, and twice in an FA Cup win against Barrow. He scored his third FA Cup goal of the season on 3 December, however Rotherham were eliminated as they lost 2–1 to Shrewsbury.

He scored his first goals of 2012 on 2 January, as Rotherham beat Bradford 3–0 at home. On 5 January Crawley Town bid £100,000 for Grabban, who had scored 12 goals in 24 appearances so far for Rotherham. The bid was rejected, and Rotherham manager Andy Scott labelled the bid as "embarrassing", saying it would take big money for them to accept any offers.

On 6 March he scored in a 1–1 draw with Crewe, and scored again the following game as Rotherham beat Plymouth Argyle 1–0. He followed this up with a goal in a 2–1 loss to Oxford on 17 March, and scoring the winner on 31 March against Hereford United. On 21 April he scored his 20th & 21st goals of the season in a 3–2 home win against Morecambe. On 21 May 2012 reports came in that Crawley Town had agreed a deal with the striker, it was later confirmed that Grabban had agreed a deal after announced by Sky Sports News and BBC Sport but Rotherham boss Steve Evans denied the deal being agreed.

Bournemouth

On 31 May 2012, Grabban signed for League One team Bournemouth for a fee believed to be around £300,000. He made his debut on 14 August 2012, in a 0–0 draw against Oxford United in the League Cup. Oxford won the game on penalties, although Grabban scored his penalty in the shoot-out. He made his league debut four days later, in a 1–1 draw against Portsmouth. He scored on his home debut on 21 August, opening the scoring in a 1–1 draw against MK Dons. On 13 October, he scored his second goal for the club in a 2–0 win at home to Leyton Orient. On 27 October, he scored again in a 4–2 win against Carlisle United. On 17 November, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 win against Oldham Athletic.

He scored twice on the opening day of the new season, now in the Championship after Bournemouth won promotion in the previous season, in a 2–1 win against Charlton Athletic. He then scored in the following game, a 6–1 defeat to Watford. He also scored again in the following game, a 1–0 win against Wigan Athletic, meaning he had scored four goals in the opening three matches. After scoring in defeats to Blackpool and Leeds United, Grabban scored in a 5–2 win against Millwall on 5 October, maintaining his excellent start to the season. Grabban then scored in consecutive away wins for Bournemouth against Reading and Sheffield Wednesday in December.

On 18 January 2014, Grabban signed a new three-and-a-half year deal to end speculation with him to a move to Brighton & Hove Albion. Later that day, he celebrated signing his new deal by scoring in a 1–1 draw against Watford. Later in January, he scored in a 2–1 win against Huddersfield Town, and began February well by scoring in a 2–2 draw against Bolton Wanderers. In March, he took his tally for the season to 15 by scoring in back-to-back wins against Blackpool and Blackburn Rovers. Later that month, he ended a three-game goal drought by scoring twice in a 4–1 win against Leeds United. The win was also the first time that Bournemouth had ever beaten Leeds. Grabban scored 35 goals during his two-year stay with the Cherries.

Norwich City

On 5 June 2014, Grabban completed a transfer to Norwich City for an undisclosed fee which was reported to be around £3million. After making his debut in a 1–0 loss to Wolves in the opening game of the season, Grabban scored his first goal for the club in his second appearance, helping Norwich to beat Watford 3–0 at Carrow Road. On 23 August, Grabban scored the game's only goal as Norwich beat rivals Ipswich Town in the East Anglian derby, his fourth goal in his first four games for the club. He went on to score 13 goals in 44 games for the club, the first 12 of which played an integral part in the club gaining promotion to the Premier League.

Return to Bournemouth

On 11 January 2016, Grabban re-signed for now Premier League side Bournemouth from Norwich City on a three-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Reading (loan)

On 31 January 2017, Grabban signed for Championship side Reading on loan for the remainder of the 2016–17 season.

Sunderland (loan)

On 26 July 2017, Grabban signed for Sunderland on a season long loan. He scored his first goal for Sunderland on his debut in a 1–1 draw with Derby County on 4 August 2017. The following weekend Grabban scored two goals and an own goal in a 3–1 victory over his former club Norwich.

International career

Although born in London, Grabban is also eligible to play for Jamaica in addition to England. In May 2014, it was reported on TV Jamaica that he was called up by German coach Winfried Schäfer to play against Serbia on 26 May 2014 in an international friendly. However the player was not named in the squad due to passport issues. Grabban was later called up to the Jamaica national football team on 27 February 2015 for friendly games against Venezuela and Cuba.

Personal life

Grabban went to Cumnor House School in South Croydon, where his footballing talent was noticed, and was spotted by Croydon Schools and Purley Panthers teams. He went on to secondary education at Trinity School of John Whitgift in Shirley. He left after GCSE to join Crystal Palace on a full-time basis.

Career statistics