Premier League clubs spent over £2bn during the summer transfer window. A lot of big moves occurred and a number of teams were prematurely crowned winners of the window.
By Sam McGuire
With half of the season now in the history books, it is becoming much clearer who actually won the transfer window and which player has the best claim to the title of bargain of the summer.
Bournemouth. The Cherries are the winners after their purchase of Dean Huijsen for just £16million. The centre-back is now being chased by Real Madrid and Manchester City having impressed in his first few months in the English top flight.
What makes this even more remarkable is the fact he only started two of the opening 13 games for Andoni Iraola’s side. Since breaking into the starting XI having settled into life in the Premier League, Huijsen has bossed, well, everything. He’s made the FotMob Team of the Week in four of his last seven appearances.
He made the matchday 14 team with a rating of 8.3 after netting the winner against Spurs. The former Juventus youngster then made the team on successive machdays, 17 and 18, with ratings of 8.3 and 8.4 One of these arrived against Manchester United in a 3-0 win for the Cherries, another game in which Huijsen found the back of the net. He missed Team of the Week for Matchday 19 but returned for Matchday 20, as Iraola’s side claimed a win over Everton to move to within three points of fourth-placed Chelsea.
Key to this climb up the table has been a steady flow of clean sheets. The Cherries have kept five clean sheets all season, three have arrived in their last four outings. In fact, Huijsen has been present for all but one of those performances.
The 19-year-old has had a transformative impact on this side following his move in the summer. The 6″5′ centre-back, who spent the second half of last season on loan at AS Roma, was highly rated during his time in Italy but there had been question marks over his suitability to first-team football right now.
Transfer expert Jatin Dietl had some reservations this summer when the centre-back was linked with Liverpool and Newcastle, saying: “He was not (yet) at the level to be a starter for a club like Roma. But he has a lot of potential and extremely good technique for a central defender.
“Sometimes at Roma he even played in midfield. He’s very elegant but he lacks experience in one-v-one defensive situations and he also has to grow physically to adapt to the higher requirements of top level football. So I would say it would be an investment in the future, but if he develops well he can become a very good modern defender.”
Those reservations appear to have been misplaced with the 19-year-old seamlessly adapting to life in the English top tier. So much so, in fact, he’s now being courted by the champions of England and the reigning champions of Europe.
His career has been a strange one.
Born in Amsterdam, his parents moved to Spain when he was a youngster and he grew up idolising Sergio Ramos. He was on the books of Malaga before Juventus snapped him up. He was expected to be the next great defender to play for the Old Lady of Italian football but was sacrificed with Juventus needing to raise funds for a rebuild.
Bournemouth snapping him up was viewed as a coup at the time. Now it appears to be a masterstroke.
His game showcases his upbringing. There’s a Dutch bluntness to his ways mixed with a Spanish flair. The fact he’s now playing for Spain ahead of the Netherlands is a huge blow to the latter who may well have seen him as a long-term heir to Virgil van Dijk.
In the English top flight this term, he’s won, on average 75% of his tackles. He’s winning almost five duels per 90 and his aerial duel win rate currently stands at 60%. The latter figure will likely rise as he grows into his body. It has to. He’s 6″5′!
His aggressiveness without the ball, combined with his composure in possession, has helped give the Cherries a platform in the Premier League this term.
They’re seventh in the league having allowed just 23 goals in 20 matches. They’ve conceded fewer goals than the likes of Manchester City (27), Chelsea (24) and Aston Villa (32). They’re averaging just 1.2 goals against per game, the fifth best record in the league. It is a staggering improvement on the 1.8 they conceded last term.
Only four teams have a lower xG Conceded total than Bournemouth’s 24.9. And three of those teams – Liverpool, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest – make up the top three in the Premier League.
Bournemouth have assembled a squad made up of a lot of talent with huge potential. The one with the most potential, however, could well be Huijsen. How he finishes the season could well dictate how much the Cherries bank when he’s inevitably sold in the summer.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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