Barça Watches Iñigo Martínez's Ideal Partner: Only He Can Bench Pau Cubarsí

Barça's defensive reliability has been key throughout the season in the team's successes and the results achieved. A large part of this is due to the central defender pairing formed by Iñigo Martínez and Pau Cubarsí. A mix that has borne fruit thanks to the Basque's experience and the quality of the young Catalan defender.

Together they have established themselves as the best central defender pairing in Europe with a very high performance that reinforces Hansi Flick's plan. The German coach trusted Iñigo Martínez and Pau Cubarsí from the very beginning, and time is proving him right. However, although both are performing spectacularly, the sports management is not closing the door to the addition of another top-level central defender.

Jonathan Tah Is Not the Chosen One

The future of Ronald Araújo and Eric García is hanging in the air, and Andreas Christensen is halfway out of Barça. In such a situation, last January Deco had agreed on the arrival of Jonathan Tah. However, in recent hours everything has changed, and given Barça's passivity, Tah has begun negotiating with Inter Milan and Bayern Munich.

In this scenario, Laporta and Deco have focused their attention on another top-level defender. He would form a great partnership with Iñigo Martínez and also allow Pau Cubarsí to rest. We are talking, of course, about the sensation of the season in European soccer: Dean Huijsen.

Huijsen Approaches Barça

Huijsen, Bournemouth's central defender, was signed last summer from Juventus for 15 million euros, and in just a few months he has become quite a sensation. The tall 6 ft. 5 in. (1.95 m) defender has Dutch and Spanish nationality and is on Barça's radar. His signing would allow Pau Cubarsí to rest more regularly.

Huijsen appeared by surprise in the Spanish National Team's camp for the Nations League match between the Netherlands and Spain. Pau Cubarsí's injury ended up placing him in the team for much of the match, and he performed excellently. A test that served Barça to bet on his signing.

This season, Huijsen has played 32 matches with 2,530 minutes of effective play, scoring 2 goals and providing 1 assist. Good ball handling, ambidextrous, with ease for long passes and dominance in aerial play: Huijsen has it all. However, his market price exceeds 50 million, complicating his signing for FC Barcelona.