Dean Huijsen: Real Madrid's New Left-Sided Centre-Back
Real Madrid’s new season is edging into view, and the squad already looks very different. Six new faces have walked through the door this summer, yet one of the most intriguing battles is unfolding in a position that hasn’t changed hands through a transfer: the left-sided centre-back.
Jose Mourinho is broadly satisfied with what he has seen so far in pre-season, but the decisions now get tougher. At the heart of his defence, the competition is fierce. Ibrahima Konate has arrived to push Dean Huijsen, Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao. Four big profiles. Only two starting spots. One of them, crucially, on the left.
Huijsen steps to the front
Right now, Dean Huijsen is in pole position.
As reported by MARCA, the young Spaniard is the leading candidate to start the season as Real Madrid’s main left-sided centre-back. That is not a sentimental choice. It is rooted in something very simple: balance.
Huijsen is the only central defender in the squad truly comfortable with both feet. The others are naturally right-sided. In a team that wants to dominate the ball and build from the back, that detail matters. It opens passing angles, changes how the team can escape pressure, and shapes how the entire backline is positioned.
And Huijsen has backed up that tactical advantage with form.
In the recent Teresa Herrera Trophy against Deportivo La Coruna, his first start under Mourinho, he produced exactly the kind of performance that sticks in a coach’s mind. He marshalled the defence, won his duels, and read the game with authority. Seven successful defensive actions, not a single duel lost. Numbers that only tell part of the story, but numbers that underline control.
That display did more than secure a clean sheet in a friendly. It reignited the belief inside the club that Huijsen still has everything required to grow into an undisputed starter and, in time, a pillar of the Real Madrid backline.
The weight of number four
Huijsen’s rising status is not just tactical or statistical. It is stitched into the shirt on his back.
With David Alaba gone, the iconic number four was suddenly vacant. At Real Madrid, that is not just a spare squad number. It is a statement. Sergio Ramos wore it. Fernando Hierro wore it. It is a jersey that carries history, leadership, and a certain expectation of defiance when the pressure spikes.
Huijsen did not shy away. He took it.
"The was always my dream to play for Real Madrid and wear the number four. As a child, my idol was always Sergio Ramos," he wrote on social media. A simple message, but one that tells you he understands what he has stepped into. He is not hiding from the comparison; he is embracing the responsibility that comes with it.
For Mourinho, that mentality counts. A central defender at Real Madrid does not just clear crosses and win headers. He sets the tone. He absorbs pressure when the team is under siege and plays with personality when the Bernabeu demands more.
The question is no longer whether Huijsen wants that role. It is whether his body will let him keep it.
Fitness: the one cloud on the horizon
If there is a shadow over Huijsen’s momentum, it is his injury record.
Physical issues disrupted his previous campaign and ultimately cost him a place in Spain’s World Cup squad. Just when he needed rhythm and continuity, his body pushed back. That pattern has not fully disappeared. Much of last week he trained alone due to discomfort, a reminder that his physical condition remains the key variable in his season.
For a coach, that is the dilemma. On the pitch, Huijsen looks ready to be the left-sided anchor, the natural partner to a Rudiger or Militao, the defender who gives Real Madrid a different profile at the back. Off it, the medical reports still demand caution.
Mourinho now walks that tightrope. Trust the talent and build the defence around a two-footed centre-back who has just taken on the number four, or lean on the experience and durability of his other options and manage Huijsen more carefully?
The new season will answer that. If Huijsen’s body holds, the shirt he has chosen and the role he is chasing might not just be symbolic. They could define Real Madrid’s defensive identity for years to come.
