Dean Huijsen's performances in the Premier League were rewarded during the international break when he made his debut for Spain. Ali Tweedale of Opta Analyst examines how the teenager has flourished in his first season at Bournemouth.
Injuries have opened a few doors for Dean Huijsen in recent months, but there's no denying just how astounding a job he has done to grab the opportunities that have come his way.
The latest international break handed him his most recent big chance. The 19-year-old was only called up to the Spain squad due to an injury to Barcelona’s Inigo Martinez, and then only an injury to Pau Cubarsi in the first half of the Nations League quarter-final against the Netherlands – Huijsen’s country of birth – earned him a first cap.
He ended up playing 49 minutes of that match and did so well he was trusted to start the return leg, eventually playing all 120 minutes as Spain triumphed on penalties to make this summer’s Nations League last four.
Remarkably, Huijsen wasn’t even a regular starter for AFC Bournemouth as recently as four months ago, having signed from Juventus only last summer in a deal that now looks like a ridiculous bargain at an initial £12.8million that could rise to £15.3million.
He had been given the odd chance in his first few months in England, including a huge test as a starter in a September trip to Liverpool, but Bournemouth failed to win any of the five games he played more than 25 minutes in, including three 90-minute outings.
But a serious hamstring injury to first-choice centre-back Marcos Senesi handed him another opportunity, and this time he would take it.
A man-of-the-match performance and a match-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in Bournemouth’s next game in early December put to bed any doubts about the youngster’s suitability to the Premier League.
Watch Huijsen's goal v Spurs
He always retained the backing of manager Andoni Iraola, but it is the way of Premier League fans to assume that a teenager from another country would struggle to adapt to the physicality of England’s top flight. Particularly a centre-back as lean and gangly as Huijsen.
The Spaniard doesn’t look like the archetypal Premier League centre-back. He is young in the face, and some might assume he could be bullied by physical forwards.
At 6 ft 6 in tall, however, his skinny frame is deceiving, but let’s be clear: Huijsen is no weakling. The physical challenge of professional football in England’s top tier has proved no barrier.
Far from it, in fact. He never shies away from a battle and has looked totally unflustered by the challenge of facing some of the best centre-forwards in the world. Among Premier League defenders with 1,500 minutes played this season, only seven have contested more aerial duels than him, and he has won 59.3 per cent of his aerial battles.
To put that into context, he is level with Arsenal’s man mountain of a defender Gabriel and just ahead of two other very capable defenders in Jan Paul van Hecke and Marc Guehi (both 59.1 per cent).
He also ranks third among centre-backs for fouls committed per 90 (1.2) – he is top when excluding players who represent teams in the Premier League’s current bottom four – and he already has six yellow cards to his name, five of which were given for tactical fouls (one for arguing with an opponent).
Those numbers aren’t exactly inherently positive, but they do help to illustrate how Huijsen approaches the physical side of the game. He really is up for the battle.
He is also an exceptional footballer. You have to be to not just earn a call-up to the Spain squad at the age of 19 but then to also play so well that you give manager Luis de la Fuente, who has openly admitted he wants to stick by the players who won last summer’s European Championship, a selection headache.
Huijsen is extremely comfortable on the ball. He has the best pass completion rate of any Bournemouth player to start more than two Premier League games this season (84.3 per cent), and in the surroundings of a Spain team famed for their passing, he completed 90.4 per cent of his passes in the second leg against the Netherlands on Sunday.
He isn’t just safe with his passes, though, and ranks third in the Premier League among centre-back with 1,500 minutes played this season for progressive passes per 90 (4.0) - passes in open play which start in the attacking two-thirds of the pitch and move the ball at least 25 per cent closer to goal.
And against the Netherlands, he produced the assist of the game early in extra-time with a sumptuous ball over the top of the Dutch defence to send Lamine Yamal through for the goal that put Spain 3-2 up on the night. Huijsen had been heavily involved in the build-up to the goal, too.
It shouldn’t really be a surprise that he is as adept on the ball as he is. Huijsen moved to Spain aged five, and grew up there in the era of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and the all-conquering Barcelona and Spain teams, so his footballing education at Malaga would have been one heavily focused on retaining possession.
So it also shouldn’t come as a shock that he was so at home playing for De la Fuente’s Spain, even if the ease with which he took to that level was still mightily impressive.
He is still, first and foremost, a defender, though, and he also stands out for his reading of the game. Among all defenders with at least 1,500 Premier League minutes to their name this season, he ranks second behind Southampton’s Jan Bednarek (2.3) for interceptions per 90 (2.2), while only Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite (6.9) averages more clearances per 90 than him (6.7). He ranks fifth for headed clearances per 90 (3.3) and seventh for shots blocked per 90 (1.3).
Clearly, he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, while also being a very capable footballer. That is likely why the Netherlands pushed for him to change his mind and commit his international future to his country of birth and his parents rather than Spain, although they were ultimately unsuccessful in that hunt.
In truth, it may well be that when De la Fuente has Aymeric Laporte, Martinez and Cubarsi available, Huijsen drops back down the pecking order. But it was a statement nonetheless that the Spain manager went for Huijsen over the hugely impressive 22-year-old Raul Asensio, who has shot to prominence this season at the heart of the Real Madrid defence in the absence of the injured Eder Militao.
International managers often tend to favour defenders at the biggest clubs. Barcelona’s Gerard Pique and Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos were Spain’s centre-backs for years; Gareth Southgate mostly stuck by Manchester City’s John Stones and Manchester United’s Harry Maguire despite plenty of clamour for change over his tenure; Italy’s Euro 2020 victory came with a central defence of Juventus players.
To start in central defence for a big nation when not playing for a big club can often take something special.
Even if injuries opened the door initially to Huijsen, he has proven once again exactly the level he belongs at. Being selected ahead of Asensio, who played every minute of both legs of Madrid’s Champions League ties with Man City and Atletico Madrid and would reasonably be assumed to be more ready to play in a high-pressured Nations League game than Huijsen, is a real achievement.
But, thrown in at the deep end in the first leg, Huijsen put the jeers of a Dutch crowd unhappy with his decision to choose to represent Spain out of his mind and put in a typically solid and reliable display. He retained his place ahead of Asensio and impressed again in the return game.
Naturally, these latest displays have accelerated talk of a move away from Bournemouth that was already bubbling away in the background.
Reports of a £50million release clause have led to widespread talk that the south-coast club will struggle to keep him beyond the summer, and the list of rumoured potential suitors includes most of the biggest teams on the planet. Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle United and Barcelona have all been said to be interested.
With every solid display he puts in, the more the rumours swirl, and the more it appears Bournemouth and Spain really do have a special player on their hands. Right now, it’s difficult to put a ceiling on just how high Dean Huijsen can go.
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