AFC Wimbledon Sign Joe Bursik on Loan for the Season

AFC Wimbledon have brought goalkeeper Joe Bursik back to Plough Lane, signing the Portsmouth man on loan for the rest of the season.

It is a homecoming of sorts. Bursik first walked through the doors of Wimbledon’s academy as an eight-year-old, learning his trade with the Dons before departing for Stoke City at 16. Now 26, he returns with a full EFL education behind him and a clear brief: strengthen Wimbledon’s last line of defence for the run-in.

Bursik’s breakthrough came at Stoke, where he impressed in the Championship during the 2020-21 campaign. He recorded seven clean sheets in just 16 league appearances, a run that underlined his potential and pushed him into the spotlight. Stoke then sent him out to sharpen his game across the divisions, with loan spells at Telford, Accrington Stanley, Doncaster Rovers and Peterborough United adding experience and resilience.

Portsmouth moved for him in September 2025, and he has since made 10 league appearances for Pompey. He also started one of the club’s standout fixtures of recent seasons, the FA Cup third-round tie against Arsenal at Fratton Park, a night that ended in a 4-1 defeat but offered Bursik another high-profile stage.

Now he swaps the south coast for south-west London again, this time as a seasoned professional rather than a hopeful academy prospect. Wimbledon get a goalkeeper who knows the club, knows the level and has already shown he can handle pressure. How far that combination takes them this season will be watched very closely around Plough Lane.