Real Madrid have completed the signing of the Bournemouth centre-back Dean Huijsen. The 20-year-old defender, who has also been targeted by Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Newcastle, will join the Spanish club at the end of the season after they agreed to pay a £50m release clause.
Real tried to sign the Netherlands-born Spain international when he was a youth player at Málaga and have continued to track the former Juventus and Roma defender’s progress. Huijsen’s footballing idol is Sergio Ramos, the former Spain and Madrid defender. After a loan spell at Roma, Huijsen signed for Bournemouth in July 2024.
His recruitment comes as Xabi Alonso is set to take charge as Madrid’s manager from Carlo Ancelotti, who is taking over the Brazil national team, and marks the start of the La Liga club’s rebuild. The Bayer Leverkusen head coach will come in after a season in which the European champions were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by Arsenal and lost their La Liga crown to their arch-rivals, Barcelona.
The Amsterdam-born player has made 30 appearances in the top flight this season, and scored goals against while his reputation burgeoned as one of Europe’s most capable young players.
Huijsen’s family moved from the Netherlands to Spain when he was five and last year he pledged his allegiance to the latter despite representing the Dutch from under-16s to under-19s. He earned his first caps for the Spain senior team in March.
“Real Madrid CF and AFC Bournemouth have reached an agreement for the transfer of player Dean Huijsen, who remains tied to our club for the next five seasons, from 1 June 2025 to 30 June 2030,” the Madrid statement said.
Bournemouth had earlier said on their website: “Everyone at AFC Bournemouth is looking forward to working with Dean for the remaining two games of the Premier League season, before he embarks on the next step of his career.” Bournemouth visit Manchester City on Tuesday then host Leicester on Sunday 25 May.
Ancelotti said on Saturday: “Huijsen is a great player, young, with a lot of potential. I think the signing is very good for Real Madrid.” Injuries to defenders have significantly affected Madrid’s season, and Ancelotti highlighted the importance of strengthening the backline.
“Last season, I don’t think it was even thinkable because we had David Alaba’s return in the squad, [Éder] Militão was doing well, [Dani] Carvajal was doing well, and throughout this season, these kinds of injuries have hurt us,” he added.
Carvajal and Militão have been out with serious knee injuries since November. Antonio Rüdiger, Ferland Mendy and Alaba suffered injuries late in April and are not expected to be back before the end of the season.
