Aston Villa must act fast to scupper a Premier League rival’s move for a player that would be the ideal player to partner Pau Torres at the heart of the defence.
Unai Emery has already welcomed seven new arrivals to Aston Villa this summer, with three of those additions centre midfielders.
Aside from the midfield trio of Ross Barkley, Enzo Barrenechea and Amadou Onana, Villa have signed a three wingers and a left-back.
Having avoided a PSR scare through the sales of Douglas Luiz, Tim Iroegbunam and Omari Kellyman, Villa show no signs of slowing down with their summer business as they prepare for the Champions League.
However, they may have to act quickly to sign the perfect Pau Torres partner, with a Premier League club stepping up their interest.
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Bournemouth pushing to sign Aston Villa target Dean Huijsen
After both Barrenechea and Samuel Iling-Junior joined Villa from Juventus this summer with Luiz going the other way, Emery was reported to be keen on bringing another Juve player to Villa Park.
That player is Dean Huijsen, the 19-year-old centre-back who impressed whilst on loan at Roma last season.
Given the good relationship the two clubs formed when negotiating the triple deal at the start of the summer, Villa had asked senior figures at Juventus to keep them informed regarding the situation of Huijsen.
However, they may have to act decisively to hijack a deal form a Premier League rival, with Bournemouth looking to get a deal done.
That is according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, who posted on ‘X’: ‘Bournemouth are pushing to sign Dean Huijsen in transfer battle with Stuttgart, talks on with both clubs.
Negotiations accelerating as Bournemouth are insisting to get deal done, after Stuttgart initial bid. Juve want to sell Huijsen asap to proceed with Todibo deal’.
Why Huijsen would be perfect for Aston Villa
If Bournemouth could beat Stuttgart to the signing of Huijsen it would be a very good piece of business by the Cherries.
Villa simply cannot let either of the sides named win the race for the young defender, though, as he would prove the perfect foil for Torres.
With Torres left-footed, the fact that Huijsen is completely two-footed means he could slot in seamlessly alongside the Spaniard into the right centre-back role.
Given his dual-citizenship of Netherlands and Spain it should come as no surprise that Huijsen is also a very cultured footballer who is comfortable playing line-breaking passes into the midfield.
Currently, this is primarily Torres’ role at Villa, but Huijsen’s arrival would mean there was not so much reliance on Torres in Villa’s build-up and they would therefore become more balanced and less predictable.
At 6ft 5ins Huijsen is a man mountain and this will be a real asset too, as the 19-year-old can challenge for the aerial balls and allow Torres to sweep behind him.
A match made in heaven, Emery must pull out all the stops to hijack Huijsen’s potential Bournemouth move.
