Huijsen is on the radar of several Premier League clubs heading into the summer transfer window as he’s one of the best young centre-backs in Europe and there’s a £50m release clause in his contract.
This represents good value for the 19-year-old and it feels inevitable that he will secure a move to a Premier League or European giant ahead of next season.
Liverpool are among the clubs in the market for a new centre-back as they need to sign a long-term replacement for Virgil van Dijk.
Ornstein claims Liverpool are among three ‘leading contenders’ to sign Huijsen, with a potential move to Real Madrid deemed unlikely.
“I now understand that Liverpool are among the clubs with a firm interest in Dean Huijsen. This has been reported elsewhere and is accurate. Chelsea have enquired and Arsenal are in the mix, too,” Ornstein said in a Q&A for The Athletic.
“At the moment, those are perhaps the three leading contenders, but not the only ones, with Newcastle and Tottenham also keen.
“I believe they have all held meetings or conversations with Huijsen’s camp in the past week, but I’m not aware of offers being made just yet, so the direction of travel remains unclear.
“It has been well documented that Real Madrid held great appeal for Huijsen growing up and they do like him, but I don’t know of them actively working on it and therefore — at the time of writing — it looks most probable he will join another Premier League club.”
Ornstein also suggests Liverpool could “capitalise” with Arsenal’s situation “a bit trickier”.
“I think there’s a desire on the part of Bournemouth and the player to have this situation decided as soon as possible. The £50m ($64.8m) release clause makes it a clean and potentially quick deal to do, which we’ve seen Liverpool capitalise on in the past,” Ornstein added.
“Maybe their consideration is influenced by the lack of developments so far on Ibrahima Konate’s contract situation, and you imagine Huijsen would have a good chance of starting alongside Virgil van Dijk if he was signed.
“I guess Chelsea could say the same about starting beside Colwill, while you imagine similar amounts of game time would come his way at Newcastle and Tottenham.
“Arsenal is a bit trickier with Saliba and Gabriel in situ for now, but if Kiwior was to be sold, you could envisage Huijsen playing a lot as part of their centre-back unit and, from what I hear, Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta are huge fans of the Spain international.
“I’m not sure about other names in relation to Liverpool at the moment, but suddenly from everyone wanting a left centre-back, it’s currently the right side they’re all focusing on. In general terms (I don’t know about Liverpool), Marc Guehi will definitely be one to watch and Trevoh Chalobah as well.”
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