Spurs already have their very own Huijsen in monster 18-year-old defender

They might still be in with a chance of winning the Europa League, but this season has been a disaster for Tottenham Hotspur.

The North Londoners would have started their campaign hopeful of improving on their fifth-place finish last year and qualifying for the Champions League.

However, with less than two months of the season remaining, Ange Postecoglou’s side find themselves down in 14th place in the Premier League and with more losses than wins.

With that said, there has been one big positive from the campaign, which is how well their youngsters have fared, and based on recent reports, Daniel Levy and Co now seem intent on adding another up-and-coming talent to their squad in the £50m Dean Huijsen. However, they may already have their own version of the Spaniard out on loan.

Why Spurs want to sign Huijsen

With what has to be an enormous summer of transfer activity ahead of them, why would Spurs want to spend a significant amount of money on Huijsen?

Well, there are a few reasons, and the first is their fragilities at the back, as with Micky van de Ven incredibly injury-prone and Cristian Romero increasingly so, the club need another centre-back who’d not only be capable of filling in when needed but also challenge both for a place in the starting lineup, which he could do.

For example, despite still being just 19 years old, the Spaniard has made 29 appearances for Bournemouth this season, 24 of which have been starts, and considering the Cherries have conceded five fewer goals than the North Londoners in the league this year, that’s an encouraging sign.

Moreover, he won his first senior cap for Spain last month and looks to be on a trajectory to the very top of the game.

Finally, he also has some genuinely impressive underlying numbers to his name, with FBref placing him in the top 1% of centre-backs across Europe’s top five leagues for interceptions, the top 2% for non-penalty expected goals plus assists, the top 4% for clearances, the top 5% for shot-creating actions and more, all per 90.

In short, Huijsen would be a great signing for the present and future, but it might be unnecessary, as one of Tottenham’s loanees looks like he could be their version of the teenager.

Spurs’ own Huijsen

While Spurs have several exciting youngsters out on loan this season, from Ashley Phillips to Yang Min-hyeok, it’ll likely come as no surprise to those of you who follow him that the player we are talking about is Luka Vušković.The Croatian wonderkid joined Tottenham back in September 2023, but as he was just 16, post-Brexit rules mean he can’t officially move to North London until this summer.

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While not ideal, this allowed the youngster to go out on loan, and he’s spent this season in Belgium with KVC Waterloo, where he has been sensational.

So what makes him like Huijsen, then?

Well, the first and most obvious point of similarity is that both players are enormous for their age, with the Spaniard coming in at 6 foot 6 and the Croat just over 6 foot 4.

On top of that, a similar level of expectation is placed upon the Lilywhites gem.

For example, respected talent scout Jacek Kulig has described him as a “truly amazing CB” and proclaimed that he’s “destined for great things.”

At the same time, football analyst Ben Mattinson has described the teenager as a “freak athlete” and a “freak talent” who has a “scary ceiling.”

Finally, while the Bournemouth man has shown himself to be someone who can chip in with a goal or two, the Split-born prospect is on another level.

For example, in just 29 first-team appearances this term, he’s scored seven goals and provided two assists, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 0.31 games, which is just incredible for a centre-back.

Ultimately, signing Huijsen wouldn’t be a bad idea, but Tottenham shouldn’t feel like they need to, as in Vušković, they already have their own version of the Spaniard.

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