Eric Junior Bocat (born 16 July 1999) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for EFL Championship club Stoke City.
Career
Early career
Bocat was born in Paris and began playing football with youth teams Val d'Europe and US Torcy in Seine-et-Marne before joining the Dijon academy. He made eleven appearances for Dijon's B team in 2017–18 and 24 appearances for Brest's B team in 2018–19 before he joined Lille in August 2019. Bocat played for Lille's B team 20 times in the Championnat National 2 during the 2019–20 campaign and made his senior debut in a Coupe de France round of 16 tie against SAS Épinal which ended in a shock 2–1 defeat.
Mouscron
Bocat left Lille on 1 August 2020 and signed for Belgian top flight club Mouscron. He only made nine appearances in 2020–21 as Mouscron suffered relegation to the First Division B amid severe financial problems. He was a regular in 2021–22, playing 27 times as Mouscron's situation worsened and they were declared bankrupt at the end of the season.
Sint-Truiden
After two seasons at Mouscron, Bocat signed for Belgian Pro League side Sint-Truiden in July 2022. In his first season at Stayen, Bocat made 25 appearances as Sint-Truiden finished in a mid-table position of 12th. In 2023–24, Bocat only missed three games as the team had a decent campaign, finishing ninth and competed in the European play-offs.
Stoke City
On 26 June 2024, Bocat joined English Championship side Stoke City for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around €1.5 million, plus €500,000 in add-ons, signing a four-year deal. Following the announcement of the transfer, the Potters' manager Steven Schumacher revealed that they had looked into signing the defender the previous transfer window, instead using the budget to prioritise the signing of a forward player, Million Manhoef.
