Promising footballer dies on holiday in Barcelona

A YOUNG footballer for AFC Wembley has died after he fell from a fourth floor balcony in Barcelona.

Alex Stephens, 21, was on holiday at the time. According to the official report released by the Spanish police: “Mr Stephens died as the result of a fall from a fourth floor in Barcelona’s Ciutat Bella area.  Where he was pronounced dead as the paramedics arrived around 10.15am on June 18.”

The young player had spent time as a left back at Watford, before he joined Norwich City academy in 2009. Mr Stephens was then signed by AFC Wembley, where he became a popular player for the club.

His sudden death has shocked the football community, including Tajean Hutton, son of the late Trevor Hutton, the co-founder of AFC Wembley. He said: “It’s such a shock and the family is devastated. His life has been taken so soon and he was just coming into his own. He had such a love of the game and had dedicated himself to it. He was such an integral part of people’s lives. His niece and nephew and younger cousins and many others looked up to him as a role model.”

Local police are not treating his death as suspicious, and his father Andrew and mother Faye have already arranged for the repatriation of his body.