'Highest level': Kepa Arrizabalaga says young defender Liverpool want to sign has an incredibly bright future ahead
03/26/2025 04:45 PM
Liverpool are set for a big summer on the transfer front as they look to bring in new players after two quiet windows in a row.
Liverpool have signed just two players in the last 12 months, and only one, Federico Chiesa, has been at Arne Slot’s disposal this season.
In addition, Liverpool look set to lose Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid, while the Anfield futures of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah remain uncertain.
Liverpool have been linked with a host of players in recent weeks, including Bournemouth defender Dean Huijsen.
Huijsen is on Liverpool's radar and a number of other Premier League clubs are keen, as TBR Football has previously revealed, due to his £50million release clause.
Now, Bournemouth goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has said something about Huijsen that will be music to the ears of Liverpool, along with the player’s other suitors.
Kepa Arrizabalaga says Dean Huijsen has the brightest future out of Bournemouth’s young stars
On Wednesday, Kepa took part in Sky Sports’ Sticker Book Challenge, in which footballers are invited to pick their top choice out of four options.
Kepa was asked which Cherries talent he felt had the brightest future out of Alex Scott, Milos Kerkez, Illia Zabarnyi and Huijsen.
Kepa picked Huijsen above all the rest, singing the Liverpool target’s praises and shining at “the highest level”.
The Spanish goalkeeper said: “I will choose Dean, maybe because he’s like the youngest one. He’s doing really well.
“At the beginning of the season he had not the minute to be on the pitch but then he stepped into the team and he’s doing really well.
“He is just 19 and he’s playing Premier League at the highest level. I think all of them they have big future but I will pick (Huijsen).”
What Dean Huijsen could bring to Liverpool
At just 19 years of age, Huijsen has already made 27 appearances for Bournemouth and has looked a cut above for most of the season so far.
Huijsen is a modern-day centre-back who excels in both defending and moving the ball up the pitch. He shines in aerial duels, interceptions, and is a forward-thinking passer.
The Spain international is also a goalscoring threat who is great in the opposition box, and also has the character to thrive at the highest level.
“His physical and technical attributes were obvious at Malaga,” Juan Jesus Gutierrez Robles, his former coach in Malaga’s U16s, told Sky Sports in March.
“But what stood out most about him most to me was the determination and ambition he had about being a footballer. I had rarely seen that level of determination in a player.
“It is not just that he wants it, it is that he has done absolutely everything he can to achieve it. He trains better than anyone, he prepares better than anyone, he corrects his mistakes better than anyone.”
