Dean Huijsen's Second Season at Real Madrid: A Crucial Challenge

Dean Huijsen walks into his second Real Madrid season with nowhere to hide and everything to grab.

The 21-year-old centre-back is expected to start against Deportivo La Coruña in the Teresa Herrera Trophy later today, fit again after the minor injury that ruled him out of the trip to Austria. The stage is modest, the stakes are not. After a debut campaign that veered between promise and growing pains, this year comes with a simple demand from inside the club: move up a level and stay there.

From instant impact to hard lessons

Huijsen’s Madrid story burst into life just over a year ago, in June 2025, at the Club World Cup. Real Madrid fell short of the trophy, but the young defender emerged as one of the few clear positives in Xabi Alonso’s side, playing with personality and composure on a big stage.

He carried that form into the opening weeks of La Liga. Confident on the ball, aggressive without it, he looked like a long-term solution at the back. Then Madrid’s results dipped. So did his.

As the team hit their first real slump, Huijsen’s performances began to swing. Confidence occasionally tipped into overconfidence. Concentration wavered at key moments. Mistakes crept in, and with them went his status as an automatic starter.

The response came late, but it came. In the final stretch of the season he tightened up, cut out the loose moments and offered a more mature version of himself. Now he wants that version to be the baseline, not the exception.

No. 4 on his back, bigger weight on his shoulders

Inside Valdebebas, nobody doubts how much Madrid have invested in Huijsen, financially and symbolically. Handing him the No. 4 shirt underlines it. That number carries history at this club. It is not given lightly.

Huijsen sees himself as a future leader of the back line. Crucially, he has a manager who already knows exactly what he is – and what he is not.

Jose Mourinho pushed hard to sign him on loan when he was at AS Roma, a spell that fast-tracked Huijsen’s development before his move to the Premier League and, eventually, Madrid. Now Mourinho is the one calling the shots at the Bernabéu, and the relationship is being renewed in a very different context.

Pre-season has started well for the defender. He started both training matches at Valdebebas, looking sharp, only for minor physical issues to keep him out of the first official friendly against Fiorentina in Austria. He returned against Ferencváros, playing the second half and using those 45 minutes to rebuild rhythm and fitness.

Those details matter because of what has changed around him.

Konaté arrives, comfort zone disappears

The centre-back picture is no longer the same. David Alaba has gone. In his place, Ibrahima Konaté has arrived at the Bernabéu, bringing Champions League pedigree and immediate pressure on every other central defender in the squad.

For Huijsen, that shifts this season from important to decisive. He knows Mourinho’s demands. He knows the club rate him. He has the shirt, the trust and the tools.

What he does not yet have is the one thing that defines a Real Madrid centre-back: relentless consistency. That is the next step. And with Konaté breathing down his neck, any lapse could cost him his place in the heart of the defence.

Camavinga and Tchouameni on alert as United watch

While Huijsen fights for his spot at the back, the summer has been a tug of war in midfield. Real Madrid’s internal debate over their existing options has run in parallel with their pursuit of reinforcements. Bernardo Silva has arrived. Others could have.

Amid that reshuffle, the futures of Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga have never felt entirely settled. Both have been floated as possible exits at different points in the window, even with Tchouameni understood to have agreed a new long-term deal.

According to ESPN journalist Rob Dawson, speaking on The United Stand, Manchester United are closely tracking both French midfielders as potential “market opportunities” rather than active, full-throttle targets.

The Camavinga situation is particularly striking. Dawson said intermediaries contacted Premier League clubs about him before the window opened.

“United were told before the summer that Real Madrid were going to look to try and get a few players out the door,” Dawson explained. “As far as I know, Camavinga was offered to Premier League clubs by intermediaries just to gauge interest.”

That aligns with the uncertainty around his role. Camavinga wants to stay. He has said as much privately and publicly in recent months. But under Mourinho he has not yet nailed down an undisputed starting spot, and his pre-season has not changed the picture. At 23, with chances on the pitch, he has struggled to dominate games in the way the staff expected.

Tchouameni’s new deal, old questions

Tchouameni’s case is different. Madrid see him as a cornerstone of their midfield rebuild and, as Dawson notes, he is believed to have agreed a new long-term contract. The club, though, have not officially announced anything, leaving room for speculation and for rivals to keep watching.

United are not currently driving hard for either Frenchman. Their stance is to wait, to see if circumstances at Madrid shift.

“I think United are looking at those two as market opportunities,” Dawson said, before stressing the conditions that would have to fall into place. Any move would require the players to genuinely want Old Trafford, to be willing to leave Madrid on their own terms, and to fit within United’s wage structure. Without that alignment, the interest remains just that: interest.

Rodri miss keeps the door open

One decision has quietly changed the tone of this whole story. Had Madrid landed Rodri this summer, the domino effect would have been brutal for someone in that midfield. With the Spaniard in the holding role, it is hard to see both Tchouameni and Camavinga staying.

Madrid missed out. That failure now gives both Frenchmen a window to convince Mourinho they belong at the centre of his project rather than on a transfer list.

The next few weeks will be decisive. If Madrid still decide to bring in another specialist holding midfielder before the window closes, the “market opportunity” United are waiting for could suddenly become real.

Until then, Huijsen fights for his shirt at the back, Camavinga and Tchouameni fight for theirs in the middle, and one question hangs over the Bernabéu as the season approaches: who will still be standing at the heart of this new Mourinho Madrid when September arrives?