Dean Huijsen Embraces Number 4 at Real Madrid

At Real Madrid, some numbers are just ink and fabric. Number 4 is not one of them.

Dean Huijsen has chosen that shirt for next season and, with it, stepped straight into the heart of the club’s defensive mythology. For the young centre-back, it is not a marketing choice or a convenient vacancy. It is the realisation of a childhood obsession.

From an early age, Huijsen grew up in the shadow of Sergio Ramos. He laced up the famous “SR4” boots, tried to copy the tackles, the swagger, the presence. Ramos was not just a reference point; he was the template. Now Huijsen will wear the same number that Ramos turned into a global brand and a symbol of leadership at the Santiago Bernabéu.

The connection did not go unnoticed. Ramos himself sent a message of support, wishing that the number brings Huijsen “many joys too.” A small line, but a powerful passing of the torch from one generation of Madrid defender to another.

Yet Huijsen has not limited his gaze to the most recent past. He has spoken of Fernando Hierro with clear respect, recognising another giant of Madrid’s defensive lineage. There is an extra layer of pride there: they share the same region of origin, a detail that deepens the meaning of the shirt for him. To wear the number once carried by Hierro is not just to follow a legend; it is to carry a piece of home onto the Bernabéu pitch.

The story of the 4 does not stop with Ramos and Hierro. Huijsen also highlighted David Alaba, the last man to wear it. This time the admiration comes from inside the dressing room. Training and playing alongside the Austrian has given him a close-up view of what the number demands: professionalism, leadership, and a constant readiness to help those around him. Those are the traits Huijsen has singled out, the standards he has watched and now wants to emulate.

He knows exactly what he is taking on. Publicly, he has thanked the club, the board, the coaching staff, his team-mates and the fans for their trust, fully aware that this is more than a simple squad list update. At Real Madrid, certain shirts carry a weight you can feel before you even pull them over your head.

Huijsen has not shied away from that weight. He has embraced it. He speaks of responsibility, of tradition, of a number “rich with big names,” but his ambition is not to live permanently in their shadow. He wants to write his own chapter, to reach a point where his name sits naturally alongside Ramos, Hierro and Alaba when people talk about the 4 at Madrid.

So he has made his promise. Every day, in training and in matches, he will give everything to be worthy of that digit on his back. At the Bernabéu, where numbers become symbols and symbols become history, Dean Huijsen has chosen the heaviest one a young defender can carry. Now he has to prove it fits.