A talented youngster who was being tracked by Arsenal and Chelsea, but decided to sign for Tottenham at the age of 16, although he failed to realise the potential that the club saw in him, despite being at Spurs for seven years.

Featured early on in his career in the England under-16 side and moved up to the Under-17s, while still at QPR.

Spurs signed him for a fee that could have gone up to £2 million if he had realised his potential, with a place in the Spurs Academy his first step into the club's teams, although he was soon making a push for the a start in the reserves.  A progressive midfielder, Dean liked to get forward and scored his first England goal in an away 1-3 defeat against Slovenia and then netted in the Victory Shield win over Northern Ireland, playing in all three games in the 2006-07 competition.

Signed a professional contract after just turning 17 and was a mainstay of the Academy team that won their regional group title in 2008-09 and also stepped up to the reserves and the First Team to make his debut in the UEFA Cup tie away in Donetsk.

Identified as a player who needed to get experience, he was loaned to Aldershot in 2009 and the spell was cut short by injury, but his form in the Academy side took him to the Under-19 European Championships in France for England, where the team reached the semi-final, but Dean was suspended for that game after picking up two yellow cards.

Featured in some of the first team friendlies leading up to the 2010-11 season and spent time on loan at Plymouth Argyle and Charlton Athletic.  Returned to Spurs and was part of the Europa League squad for 2011-12 before going out to Yeovil Town on loan in January 2012.

Enjoyed a good run in the Under-21 side at Spurs, playing solidly and scoring goals, which attracted Swindon Town's attention and he joined them on loan for the last three months of the 2012-13 season.  But once more, he returned early from the loan spell (with no explanation given) and featured in the Under-21 matches until the end of that season, when he was perhaps, surprisingly released by Spurs.

There were rumours of trials at Crystal Palace, Notts. County and Plymouth Argyle for the former England youth international, who was recovering from injury and waited until October 2013 to sign for Stevenage, where he stayed for three years before moving on to AFC Wimbledon.