Dean Huijsen: Mourinho's Key Defensive Choice for Real Madrid

A new season is closing in, and Real Madrid are arriving armed to the teeth. Six summer signings already through the door, a refreshed squad, and Jose Mourinho back in his natural habitat: making big calls.

One of the biggest sits right in the heart of his defence.

With Ibrahima Konate brought in to stiffen competition alongside Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao, the centre-back positions are anything but settled. Yet, in the middle of all that noise, one name has quietly moved to the front of the queue: Dean Huijsen.

The left-sided answer Mourinho needs

For now, Huijsen is the leading candidate to start as Madrid’s main left-sided centre-back, as reported by MARCA. That’s not a token nod to youth or potential. It’s a tactical choice.

He is the only central defender in the squad who is genuinely comfortable with both feet and not strictly right-footed. In a Mourinho backline, where build-up angles and balance matter as much as brute force, that detail suddenly becomes decisive.

And Huijsen hasn’t just relied on his profile. He has backed it up on the pitch.

In the recent Teresa Herrera Trophy clash against Deportivo La Coruna, his first start under Mourinho, the Spaniard delivered the kind of performance that sticks in a coach’s mind. He marshalled the backline with authority, recorded seven successful defensive actions and did not lose a single duel. Not one.

That night felt less like a pre-season run-out and more like a statement: Huijsen is not here to make up the numbers. He is pushing to become a long-term pillar of the Real Madrid defence.

Wearing the weight of the number four

If his performances hinted at growing status, his shirt number screamed it.

With David Alaba gone, Huijsen has taken on the iconic number four – a shirt soaked in history at the Bernabeu. Sergio Ramos. Fernando Hierro. Names that defined eras and lifted trophies while wearing that digit on their backs.

Huijsen has not shied away from that responsibility. He leaned into it.

"It 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, making it clear this is more than a squad number to him. It is a target.

The symbolism matters. Mourinho loves players who embrace pressure, who don’t blink when the shirt feels heavy. A young defender choosing that number at this club is effectively declaring he wants to be the leader of the backline.

The question now is whether his body will let him.

The one cloud on a bright horizon

For all the promise, one concern refuses to go away: Huijsen’s fitness.

Injuries disrupted his previous campaign and cost him a place in Spain’s World Cup squad, a brutal setback for a player on the rise. The pattern hasn’t fully cleared, either. Much of last week he trained alone due to discomfort, a reminder that his physical condition remains the single biggest obstacle between him and undisputed starter status.

Mourinho can shape systems, adjust partnerships and manage minutes, but he cannot afford a defensive leader who is constantly on the edge of the treatment room.

So as the season approaches, the picture is clear. Tactically, technically, and mentally, Dean Huijsen looks ready to claim Real Madrid’s left-sided centre-back role and carry the number four into a new era.

Now the season will answer the only question that really matters: can he stay on the pitch long enough to own it?