Uttiyo Sarkar

The Height of Bournemouth Defender Dean Huijsen and How He Stacks Up Against His Peers

Bournemouth, Dean Huijsen

Dean Huijsen has been one of the breakout stars of the 2024/25 Premier League. Signed by Bournemouth for under £13 million in 2024, the 19-year-old centre-back has adapted to the English top division like a fish to water.

He became viral for his ‘chill guy’ celebration after scoring in wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United earlier this season. But Huijsen is actually a commendable centre-back who has made some of the league’s most dangerous forwards look underwhelming.

Bournemouth have lost just one of the 12 Premier League games in which Huijsen has started in. They’re currently on an 11-game unbeaten run in the league and the Spaniard has played a key role in that period.  

What perhaps works in his favour at bullying forwards is his impressive height.

The 19-year-old defender is billed at a 195 meters, coming out to around 6’5’! He is comfortably the tallest player in Andoni Iraola’s squad, with Matai Akinmboni, Daniel Jebbison and Mark Travers being closest to him at just under 6’3’.

It’s not like he’s had a crazy growth spout in the last few years or so either. Huijsen has been a pretty tall figure throughout his footballing journey. He joined Juventus as a 16-year-old in 2021 and played for their youth teams for a few years.

During that period, he even linked up with Matthijs de Ligt. The now-Manchester United defender played at Juventus until 2022 (when he moved to Bayern Munich) and took some time to give Huijsen some tips. Even in the 2021-22 season, Huijsen still managed to tower over De Ligt, who comes up at a respectable 6’2′.

Huijsen is also one of the tallest players currently playing in the Premier League. In fact, the only defenders to have a height advantage over the Bournemouth man are Newcastle United defender Dan Burn (6’7’) and Leicester City man Jannik Vestegaard (6’6).

The actual enormity of the Spanish defender compared to his Bournemouth teamamtes can be proven in pictures alongside some of them. Kepa Arrizabalaga, on loan from Chelsea, is at a respectable 6’2’ but even he comes up to just the shoulder region of the centre-back. Antoine Semenyo (jumping in the picture above) still comes up to the ear region of Huijsen despite being a respectable 6’1’.

Huijsen was also able to comfortably get the better of Manchester United forward Rasmus Hojlund in their travel to Old Trafford. He scored in their 3-0 thrashing of the Red Devils, bullying the Danish forward. The 19-year-old can be seen towering Hojlund by a few inches, with the Manchester United star coming in at around 6’3’.

The Spanish centre-back also got the better of Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson in their trip to Stamford Bridge earlier this season. The 19-year-old did not really allow the Senegalese forward to threaten his side’s goal in the 2-2 draw.

A picture of them duelling together in the game shows how Huijsen, who is trying to clear the ball, still manages to be at Jackson’s eye level despite his positional disadvantage. The Chelsea forward comes out at 6’2, a few inches shorter than Huijsen.

The Bournemouth defender has not really had that much of an opportunity to square off against Manchester City ace Erling Haaland yet. He only had a one-minute cameo in the Cherries’ 2-1 win over the Cityzens earlier this season. That being said, even Haaland (who is 6’4’) is not any taller to Huijsen.

The only Premier League forwards to boast a height advantage over the Spaniard are Southampton forward Paul Onuachu (6’7′) and Wolves striker Sasa Kalajdzic (6’7′), who is currently injured. In a league like the Premier League, where many teams still rely on crosses and set-piece threat for goals, having a towering defender like Huijsen is a big asset.

To his credit, he’s adapted to the intensity of the division with ease and is now attracting interest from the likes of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid thanks to his meteoric rise at Bournemouth. It’s safe to presume that Huijsen’s height will definitely favour him all throughout his career.