Jason Steele says Brighton has helped him love football again.

The 32 year-old is enjoying a career revival this season under manager Roberto de Zerbi.

"It was a point when I hated football, I hated everything that came with it. It's the mess social media causes - it plays with you constantly and you carry it around like a big massive weight on your shoulders all the time," Steele said.

"You don't act yourself and you are hard to be around and that's what drove me to the point of not really loving football anymore.

"It was a case of that being the tipping point - it was like, how do I get myself back in love with the game?

"I've managed to do that down here."

Steele also reacted to the online abuse Leeds striker Patrick Bamford has received in recent days.

He told BBC Sport, "I'm fully off it and I don't need it. I'm old and wise enough to know when I've had a good game or a bad game. I don't need people tweeting me and telling me this and that.

"You'd have a game and you'd look at your phone and some of the stuff that gets said... That's 10 years ago and I think it has escalated so much recently.

"I don't really know Patrick as a person but he hasn't missed a penalty on purpose. He hasn't done it to harm the fans. It's just one of those things. It's football. It happens week in and week out."