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Liverpool hopes for Hughes’ magic as Chelsea leads the race for £50m star
Chelsea leads Liverpool and other Premier League clubs in the race to sign Bournemouth centre-back Dean Huijsen during the summer. The Reds have earmarked Huijsen as their main target to bolster the defensive department under their head coach, Arne Slot.
However, Liverpool cannot afford to take other clubs for granted, as Huijsen is highly coveted in Europe at the moment. The Spaniard has played a pivotal role for Bournemouth this season under Andoni Iraola, currently eighth in the Premier League.
Huijsen joined Bournemouth from Juventus in the 2024 summer when Liverpool’s current Sporting Director, Richard Hughes, worked for the Cherries. The Reds are hoping that Hughes could play a critical role in luring the 20-year-old, beating the high-spending rival clubs.
According to reporter Miguel Delaney of The Independent, Chelsea are ahead of Liverpool and other top clubs in the pursuit of signing Huijsen from Bournemouth during the upcoming summer. The 20-year-old has a release clause of £50m with Arsenal and Newcastle United also interested in his services. Meanwhile, Real Madrid have backed out of their interest in the Spaniard despite having a significant advantage to sign him.
According to Delaney, Chelsea are willing to offer a package that includes a seven-year contract for the Spanish international. After last summer’s controversy involving the Reds’ pursuit of Martin Zubimendi, Hughes needs to move swiftly in the transfer market.
Rest assured, Huijsen remains a player who perfectly fits that profile that Liverpool desires in a central defender. The 20-year-old can challenge the club’s first-choice centre-backs, Ibrahima Konate and captain Virgil van Dijk, eventually succeeding one of them.
Despite nearing their 20th Premier League title under Slot’s debut season as the head coach, Liverpool showed plenty of vulnerabilities. The defence displayed vulnerabilities since December, conceding weak goals, which put pressure on the team, eventually costing them multiple competitions.
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Slot has also struggled to put his faith in the squad he inherited, continuously playing his preferred first-team players. Many of the starters struggled with fatigue in critical games like the Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain and the Carabao Cup final loss to Newcastle United. Liverpool needs to recruit players that Slot trusts enough to use them as rotation and competition for the first team.
