Liverpool have reportedly made their first move to try and sign of the most coveted teenagers in European football.
Bournemouth’s unexpected challenge for a Champions League finish this season has seen many of their standout performers linked with moves away from the Vitality Stadium, with Milos Kerkez and Antoine Semenyo among the members of Andoni Iraola’s squad in whom the Reds have been credited with an interest.
Another one of the Cherries’ best players is also believed to be on Richard Hughes’ radar, with planning for the summer transfer window well underway.
Liverpool open talks to sign Huijsen
According to CaughtOffside, Liverpool have initiated talks in their attempts to sign Dean Huijsen, following claims from Graeme Bailey last month that the Merseysiders had been monitoring the defender.
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have also made contact as they too vie for the 19-year-old, for whom offers of around €30m-€35m (£25.2m-£29.4m) are expected from Premier League clubs.
Bournemouth are ready to offer the Spain under-21 international a new contract and intend to raise his asking price, now that they know of the increasing interest from several high-profile suitors who view him as a ‘unique talent’.
Could Huijsen be Van Dijk’s long-term successor at Liverpool?
It seemed like quite a coup for the Cherries last summer when they snapped up a teenage prodigy in Huijsen who’d already played for the first teams of Roma and Juventus, and the centre-back has taken to Premier League football like a duck to water.
Such has been his impact on the south coast that Joe Partington of the Cherries: Unpicked podcast described him and Illia Zabarnyi as ‘everything you would want from a defensive centre-back pairing’ [via BBC Sport], and one can only wonder just how high his ceiling might be if he’s already this good at 19.
The youngster is equally comfortable playing the ball with both feet, a trait that Liverpool don’t have among their current senior options in his position (they’re all predominantly right-footed), and the presence of ex-Bournemouth sporting director Hughes at Anfield could also help to play into the Merseysiders’ hands.
Competition for a place in Arne Slot’s backline would be intense, with Huijsen possibly having to bide his time behind Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate if the former were to sign a contract extension, although the 14-year age gap between the pair would suggest that the teenager is viewed as a long-term successor to our current captain.
A few big names from Iraola’s squad could be cherry-picked (pun intended) over the summer if his side miss out on Europe for next season, and LFC already seem to have declared their hand when it comes to their highly prodigious number 2. Now we await to see if these reported talks prompt any concrete developments in the coming weeks.
