Tiago Pinto, Bournemouth\u2019s president of football operations, has made a striking claim about Dean Huijsen\u2019s long-term potential at Real Madrid. Pinto told MARCA: \u201cI\u2019ll give you a headline: For me, he\u2019s the only center back who can win the Ballon d\u2019Or. That\u2019s what I think of Dean Huijsen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pinto expanded on the attributes that convince him: \u201cHe plays with his right foot, with his left … He\u2019s tall, he scores goals and he has spectacular technique. I insist, for me, of the players I know, he\u2019s the only central defender who can win the Ballon d\u2019Or.\u201d He added a note of perspective on development at a major club: \u201cYou can\u2019t expect them to \u2018devour\u2019 Real Madrid in six months. They\u2019re a huge club. They have to learn and develop other things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huijsen, 20, arrived in Madrid on a five-year contract and made his debut one month after signing when Real Madrid were competing at the Club World Cup. He began the season positively under Xabi Alonso but experienced a drop in form in October and missed continuity through a run of injuries. He has since accumulated 26 appearances in a white shirt, including his first Cl\u00e1sico and a Madrid derby.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard\u2019s fitness issues have been candidly acknowledged by the player. \u201cI\u2019ve had quite a few injuries lately and I finally feel physically fit,\u201d Huijsen told Movistar+ after Real Madrid\u2019s 6\u20131 rout over Monaco. \u201cI\u2019ve been playing injured for two or three months, unable to sprint properly. I\u2019m happy to feel good because the level I was playing at wasn\u2019t my best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huijsen returned from injury in the Spanish Super Cup final against Barcelona and was judged the worst defender on the pitch. One week later, against Levante, new boss \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa substituted him after 60 minutes. More recently he produced a strong display against Monaco, suggesting a regain of form as he continues to adapt to life at Real Madrid and the expectations that come with the move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pinto: Dean Huijsen is the only centre back who could one day win the Ballon d’Or. At Real Madrid.He<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[739,987],"tags":[1081,1064,1393],"class_list":["post-6215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bournemouth","category-real-madrid","tag-adaptation","tag-ballon-dor-2","tag-centre-back"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}