Dean Huijsen

Early career

Huijsen began playing with Costa Unida CF de Marbella before joining Málaga's youth set-up in 2015, at age 10.

Juventus

In May 2021, Huijsen joined Juventus, playing for their U17s. Ahead of the 2022–23 season, he moved up the U19s and he scored six goals in 14 matches until November 2022. He also featured in two first-team friendlies against Standard Liège and Rijeka in December 2022. In early January 2023, Huijsen was promoted to Juventus Next Gen, the reserve team of Juventus. He made his professional debut on 8 January, starting in a 2–1 league loss against Pordenone. On 15 February, Huijsen scored his first two professional goals in the second leg of a Coppa Italia Serie C semi-final match against Foggia, helping his team win the tie on penalties. On 2 April, he scored his first goal in Serie C, in a 3–1 home loss to Feralpisalò. In June 2023, Huijsen renewed his contract with Juventus until 2027. On 22 October, he made his Serie A debut, coming off the bench in the 78th minute to replace Federico Gatti in a 1–0 away win over AC Milan. On 7 November, Juventus announced that Huijsen alongside his Next Gen teammate Kenan Yıldız had been promoted to the first team.

Loan to Roma

Huijsen was loaned to fellow Italian side Roma on 6 January 2024 until the end of the 2023–24 season. He made his debut with the Giallorossi the following day, playing the entire second half in a home league draw against Atalanta. In early February, Roma's…

Netherlands

Huijsen represented the Netherlands at various youth international levels, playing for the under-17 and under-19 national teams. In May 2022, Huijsen was included in the Dutch under-17 squad that took part in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Israel, where he scored two penalties in the group stage matches against France and Poland, as Oranje eventually finished as runners-up after losing to France in the final.

Spain

On 15 March 2024, Huijsen was called up by the Spain national under-21 team to play the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group B match against Belgium. twelve months later, On 17 March 2025, he was called up by the senior side for the Nations League quarter-finals against the Netherlands. He was covering Iñigo Martínez's absence due to injury and made his debut coming on in the 41st minute, replacing Pau Cubarsí. The match ended 2–2, Huijsen was one of Spain's best players and received a hostile reception from home fans in the Stadion Feijenoord for switching nations in order to play for Spain. He called his debut a "dream". Huijsen started the second leg and was praised for an assist in additional extra time which Lamine Yamal scored from. He was left out of the Spain squad that won the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Huijsen is a physical 1.96 m-tall centre-back. He is mainly right-footed but can also use his left foot. He has an eye for the goal and can also take penalty kicks, making him a ball-playing defender who can build up attacks.

Huijsen was born in Amsterdam to Donny Huijsen and Macha Wijsmuller. Donny played for Jong Ajax and had a professional career in the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Dean can speak Dutch, Spanish, Italian and English. The family relocated to Marbella, Andalusia, Spain, when he was five years old; he became a Spanish citizen in February 2024. Huijsen's idol growing up was Sergio Ramos.