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3rd highest in Europe
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When it comes to break out performances this season, few defenders in Europe’s top five leagues can match the meteoric rise of Dean Huijsen over the course of the last eight months. Signed by Bournemouth for just €15.2 million in the summer, the central defender has gone from an afterthought in Juventus’ youth teams to a full-blown Spain international in less than a year. And to no great surprise, his market value has also shot through the roof along the way.
Indeed, since the start of the season, the 20-year-old talent has seen his market value rise by a remarkable €32m to where it now stands at an impressive €42m. In that same period of time only two other defenders aged 21 or under have seen their market values rise by a larger amount – new Manchester City signing Abdukodir Khusanov (+€32.5m to €35m) and Barcelona star Pau Cubarsí (+€40m to €70m). Which not only means that Huijsen has quickly shot to the top of the list of most valuable players in Andoni Iraola’s side, but he’s also the seventh most valuable central defender in the world aged 21 or younger. And we need only look at his performances in the English top-flight this season to see why he’s rated so highly.
Considering the low-key nature of Huijsen’s move to Bournemouth in the summer, it’s no great surprise that it took the young talent some time to elbow his way into a starting role for Iraola’s team. Over the course of the club’s 13 league games of the season Huijsen started just two matches and came on as a late sub in five more, but when Marcos Senesi was struck down by a hamstring injury against Wolves in late November, Huijsen was quickly parachuted into the starting XI and Bournemouth haven’t looked back since then. After conceding 19 goals in their first 13 league games with Huijsen as a peripheral figure, the club has since conceded just 21 goals in their following 20 league games. To put that into perspective, only two top-flight clubs can boast a better defensive record than Iraola’s team since the young Spaniard plugged the major hole in Bournemouth’s defence.
Under Iraola, Bournemouth are an extremely aggressive team on and off the ball. Few teams in the Premier League press opposition players as often as the Cherries, who are constantly looking to counter attack and get the ball back up the other end of the pitch. Such a gung-ho style of play may seem somewhat intimidating for a young defender, but Huijsen has taken to Iraola’s tactics like a duck to water. With a remarkable technical ability that makes him glide by players with his dribbles or cut through opposing defensive lines with his excellent passing, Huijsen already looks like a central defender that’s in his element when he’s dictating the pace and precision of his team’s attacking plays from the heart of defence.
To no great surprise, it’s the apparent ease by which Huijsen navigates through Premier League games that has attracted so much interest from bigger clubs. Nicknamed “The Chill Guy” at Bournemouth, the young Spaniard’s progression at Bournemouth is reminiscent of Virgil van Dijk’s success at Southampton and the manner in which he went from strength to strength with the Saints before becoming one of Europe’s top central defenders at Liverpool. Like Van Dijk, Huijsen’s clear talents on the ball with his passing and dribbling will likely make him the perfect candidate for a bigger and more dominant club in the Premier League. As such, Huijsen has been linked with a number of England’s biggest clubs, who will be hoping to be the first to trigger the player’s reported release clause of €58m.
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According to a report in the Athletic a few weeks ago, Liverpool and Arsenal were leading the race to sign the Bournemouth talent, with the former considering Huijsen an ideal replacement for Ibrahima Konaté, should the French talent depart Anfield this summer, while Arsenal will be looking to bolster an already impressive back-line with Huijsen’s youthful talents. However, a new report from the Independent now suggests that Chelsea may have sprinted to the front of the queue, with the Stamford Bridge side looking to complete a move for the central defender before the start of the Club World Cup in June.
