Dean Huijsen

Dean Donny Huijsen (born 14 April 2005) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Juventus. Born in the Netherlands, he is a youth international for Spain.

Born in Amsterdam to a Dutch family, Huijsen moved to Spain (of which he became a citizen in 2024) at the age of five and joined Costa Unida CF. In 2015, he joined Málaga's youth sector, where he played until 2021, when he was signed by Juventus. After playing for the under-17 and under-19 teams, he was promoted to reserve team Juventus Next Gen in January 2023 and made his Serie A debut with first team in the following October.

Club career
Having started playing with Costa Unida CF de Marbella, before joining Málaga's youth set-up in 2015, aged 10. In 2021, he joined Juventus, after being contended by Real Madrid. In his first season, he played with the under-17 team, scoring seven goals. In the following season, he advanced to U19 level; from August to November 2022, he scored six goals in 14 matches with the under-19s in all competitions. He also featured in two first-team friendlies against Standard Liège and Rijeka in December of the same year.

In early January 2023, Huijsen was promoted to Juventus Next Gen, the reserve team of Juventus. He subsequently made his professional debut on 8 January 2023, starting in a 2–1 league loss against Pordenone. He was booked at the seventh minute and scored with a 50th-minute header a goal which was disallowed for offside.

On 15 February, Huijsen scored his first professional goals, netting a brace in the second leg of a Coppa Italia Serie C semi-final match against Foggia: the game ended in a 2–1 win for his side (3–3 on aggregate) after 90 minutes, as Juventus Next Gen eventually won the tie on penalties. On 2 April, he also scored his first goal in Serie C in Juventus Next Gen–Feralpisalò 1–3, through a tap-in after Nikola Sekulov's shot.

In June 2023, Huijsen renewed his contract with Juventus until 2027, having collected 40 official appearances and scored ten goals among Juventus U19 and Next Gen throughout the 2022–23 season. On 22 October, he made his Serie A debut, coming off the bench in the 78th minute to substitute 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.

Roma
Huijsen was loaned to Roma until the end of the 2023–24 season on 6 January 2024, after rejecting Frosinone's interest. He made his debut with the Giallorossi the following day, playing the entire second half in a home league game against Atalanta drawn 1–1, while he scored his first Serie A goal on 5 February, to make it 4–0 against Cagliari. On the 18th of the same month, he scored the opener of an away match against Frosinone (whom Huijsen had refused prior to going to Roma) after carrying the ball from the defense, overtaking a few opponents and shooting from outside the area. He had been whistled by the opposing fans and celebrated in a provocative manner towards them; so much so that he was immediately yellow-carded by the referee and substituted by coach Daniele de Rossi during half-time break.

International career
Huijsen has represented the Netherlands at various youth international levels, having played for the under-16, under-17 and under-18 national teams.

In May 2022, he 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 itself in the final.

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 eleven days later.

Personal life
Born in Amsterdam, Huijsen's family relocated to Marbella, Andalusia, Spain when he was five years old. In February 2024, he became a Spanish citizen.

He is son of, who played for Jong Ajax and had a professional career in the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie.

Honours
Netherlands U17
 * UEFA European Under-17 Championship runners-up: 2022