Liverpool deal for £54m Richard Hughes favourite is too good to turn down

Liverpool are poised to re-enter the race for Dean Huijsen after Real Madrid signalled willingness to cut short the 20-year-old’s Bernabéu adventure for a fee in the region of the €62.5 million (£54 million) they paid Bournemouth only last summer.

The Dutch-born centre-back, who shot to prominence on the south coast, moved to Spain in 2024 on a contract through to 2030, but sources in Madrid now concede that president Florentino Pérez believes the transfer may have been concluded prematurely. Spanish outlet Fichajes reports that Pérez “is beginning to realize that the move may have been made too soon” after a series of uneven La Liga and Champions League displays.

With Madrid open to recouping their outlay, Liverpool—who monitored Huijsen before he opted for Spain—have been put on red-alert. Sporting director Richard Hughes, who secured Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth for £40 million last summer, is overseeing a defensive rebuild at Anfield. Giovanni Leoni has already arrived for £26 million, while Lens prospect Jeremy Jacquet is expected to complete a £62 million switch ahead of 2025/26. Adding Huijsen would complete a youthful trilogy designed to succeed long-serving stalwarts Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté and Joe Gomez.

The opportunity to land a ball-playing centre-back already versed in Premier League demands, and potentially anchor the back line for a decade, is viewed inside Anfield as “too good to turn down” as the club braces for the next cycle under Arne Slot.

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