I am a bit late in writing this one because of all the transfer news that has been going on and filling up our content quota last week.
But off the back of Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Bournemouth last week, there were some more direct auditions happening, just as there was with Liam Delap when we faced Ipswich recently. Delap past his audition with flying colours and as a result, we made contact with his agents again, and also his club, just last week in an attempt to get him to Stamford Bridge this month. We have yet to really hear if this is possible, but Ipswich have been reluctant to sell this month and the feeling is that it would take a chunky fee to get him here now. More on that in a sourced article today anyway, which you would have had in your emails already.
But back to the Bournemouth centre back pairing, who Chelsea have a strong interest in signing.
Illia Zabarnyi and Dean Huijsen are a young pair of centre backs starting every game for in form Bournemouth in the Premier League, and they have been a big part of the reason why their club are in 6th place in the league currently level on points with us.
They were both colossal in their teams 4-1 win over Newcastle United on Saturday by the way.
Against Chelsea though, they weren’t as good as they have been all season, particularly Zabarnyi.

He was easily spun twice by Nicolas Jackson in the first half and looked to rush in too much and over commit. His timing and decision making was off, and really, he was ran ragged by Jackson in that first 45. I noticed that in the second half, Andoni Iraola had moved Huijsen to mark Jackson rather than Zabarnyi. Huijsen also had a tough time with him, but he did manage Jackson much better than Zabarnyi did and managed to largely keep him much quieter.
A friend of mine who is also in this community was at the game live, and he took the time to send me a message to say how impressed he was with both the centre backs. His opinion is one I rate, so it was very interesting to hear his views.
He said to me:
“I must say, I’d love us to sign Dean Huijsen or Illia Zabarnyi, both were so good. Physical players and can both player. I noticed how vocal they were as well for such young centre halves. That Huijsen will go to the top I’m sure of it, both players will.
“I prefer Huijsen out of the two that’s for sure, he’s a proper player. They were celebrating tackles and geeing up the other players in their team; I love seeing that. I would be going in for him sharp-ish before price goes up/other teams come in for him. Can’t see him being at Bournemouth for long. Huijsen coped with Nico much better.”
This was his view, so he could hear everything they were saying and watch them very closely.

I think this is a very interesting perspective and some intriguing words on both players.
I must admit I do very much like the look of both defenders, but for me too it is Huijsen who elevates the most and the one I prefer, even though both profiles look decent.
Huijsen is just 19-years-old but he already stands at 6ft 5in tall and might even still be growing! He is a tower of a man and once he grows in physical stature as well, he has the potential to become a dominant centre back in the air and on the ground.
People know what kind of calibre of centre back that I think we need, but I might be fighting a losing battle with that as it just isn’t how we recruit anymore, which is sad. We need a leader, a dominant centre back who eats everything up and has some proven experience and is a bit more established.
I think Huijsen is for sure a centre back who is certainly working towards being all of the above, but he’s not there yet. We need players for the here and now. I of course would be more than happy if we signed him though, I think he’s class and has the talent to go to the top, as my pal says. I think we should sign him for sure, but alongside another more established option as well, because I actually think we need two more centre backs. Trevoh Chalobah will be sold, Tosin Adarabioyo I can see going very soon too. We know Axel Disasi is up for sale. Benoit Badiashile has major question marks and I think we should sell him too. So there will be space.
Sure, we should be all over Huijsen, I think he will be a HUGE defender once he has fully developed. Zabarnyi, very good too. He had a rough time against Nico and has things to learn, but he is also still a very young player. He’s a top, TOP defender though.
Auditions, passed!