Dean Huijsen has already accepted the pressure of playing for Liverpool, who are interested in signing him this summer, admitting “you need to be proper good.”
Huijsen is a target for the Reds heading into the summer transfer window as Arne Slot, Richard Hughes and the club’s recruitment staff considering a centre-back signing.
The Dutch-born Spain international is available for £50 million due to a release clause in his contract at Bournemouth, and that could prove a bargain after a breakthrough campaign in the Premier League.
Having only turned 20 this week, Huijsen has accrued 40 games’ top-flight experience across spells with Juventus, Roma and now Bournemouth.
And after earning his first cap for Spain in March, he looks ready to step up to the challenge of playing for a club like Liverpool, either as partner to Virgil van Dijk or an eventual successor to the Reds’ captain.
Speaking to the Talkin’ Balls*** podcast last month, Huijsen discussed the prospect of playing for Liverpool and the pressures that come with it.
“I don’t think it’s easy to play for Liverpool. It’s not,” he said.
“There’s pressure, there’s the whole world looking at you, there’s Champions League, Premier League.
“You need to be good, like proper good, to hold your own, you know?”
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Liverpool are known to have held talks with Huijsen’s camp ahead of a potential bid to trigger his release clause, with the knowledge that he is available for £50 million making any negotiations with Bournemouth smoother.
Put to him that he is already capable of playing for a top club, Huijsen pointed to Van Dijk’s own route to Anfield – only joining the Reds as a 26-year-old – while praising the Dutchman as the world’s best.
“Look at Van Dijk. He was at Celtic when he was like 23 and look at him, he’s so, so good now,” the youngster said.
“The best right now? Van Dijk, 100 percent.
“Obviously I wasn’t one-v-one playing against him, but just seeing him on the pitch, he’s so impressive. He actually does [have aura].
“He just stands there, he’s so tall, so strong. He’s a great player, to be honest. I definitely look up to him.”
Whether he is brought in as Van Dijk’s next centre-back partner – with doubts still over Ibrahima Konate‘s future amid talks over an extension to a contract that expires in 2026 – or not, Huijsen is familiar with what it would take.
That comes as he named Joel Matip as the most underrated centre-back he has seen in the Premier League – by his own admission in a short life watching football so far.
