Huijsen Takes No. 4 Shirt at Real Madrid: A New Chapter Begins

The new season at Real Madrid has its first symbolic moment. The club have confirmed their squad numbers for 2026-27, and one change stands out above all the rest: Dean Huijsen has been handed the No. 4 shirt.

At most clubs, a number is just a number. At Madrid, some of them carry weight. No. 4 is one of those. Fernando Hierro made it a standard of authority. Sergio Ramos turned it into a global brand. David Alaba kept it in the hands of a serial winner. Now it belongs to a 20-year-old defender from Malaga who grew up dreaming of this exact digit on his back.

Last season, Huijsen wore 24. Promising, raw, occasionally brilliant, often inconsistent. This summer, everything changes. The shirt on his shoulders tells him so.

From Malaga to the Bernabéu’s most demanding number

For Huijsen, this is not just a cosmetic upgrade. It is the culmination, so far, of a journey that began in Malaga, the same city that produced Hierro, one of the shirt’s most storied owners.

“It’s always been my dream to play for Real Madrid and wear the number 4,” he said on social media, alongside a photo of his new kit. He spoke like a supporter who had somehow stepped through the television and onto the pitch.

As a child, he idolised Sergio Ramos, copying the captain’s swagger and even wearing the SR4 boots in local games because he wanted to be him. Before Ramos, he knew the history: Hierro, the iron-willed leader from his own hometown. That link to Malaga gives the number an extra layer of meaning for him, a line that runs from the Costa del Sol to the heart of the Bernabéu.

Now his name sits under the same digit.

A defining season under Mourinho

The timing is no coincidence. Inside the club, the 2026-27 campaign is being treated as a decisive year for Huijsen.

His debut season in the capital was a tease. There were evenings when he looked like a long-term pillar of the back line, stepping out with confidence, reading danger early, dominating in the air. Then came lapses, dips in concentration, spells on the bench. Those swings cost him his place in Luis de la Fuente’s Spain squad for the World Cup, a painful marker of how quickly momentum can evaporate at this level.

The response came late, but it came. Huijsen finished the previous season strongly, steadying his form and reminding everyone why Madrid invested in him in the first place. That surge, combined with a full pre-season under José Mourinho’s demanding eye, has reset the expectations.

This is no longer about potential. Wearing No. 4 at Real Madrid is a statement: you are here to command, not to learn quietly in the background.

Huijsen knows it. “I know this number has a history filled with legends, and I hope to write my own story so that one day people will consider me worthy of having worn this shirt and this number,” he said. “What I do know is that I will give everything every day, whether in training or in a match.”

No caveats. No soft landing. Just a promise of work.

Alaba’s legacy and a mentor’s imprint

The new No. 4 has not forgotten the man who wore it before him. Before the number became available, it belonged to David Alaba, the Austrian defender whose versatility, experience and calm defined his Madrid spell. Alaba has decided to leave the club, but his influence remains in the dressing room and, clearly, in Huijsen’s mind.

“After that, another great football legend, David Alaba, wore it, and I had the pleasure of sharing a dressing room with him,” Huijsen noted. “Without a doubt, he was one of the best teammates and people I have met in this sport. He always worked hard and was willing to help everyone with his experience and leadership.”

Those are not empty compliments. For a young centre-back trying to find his voice, Alaba’s daily standards offered a blueprint: how to train, how to speak, when to lead and when to listen. Now Huijsen inherits not only the number but the expectation to bring that same authority to a back line that will again be judged by the highest standards in Europe.

Embracing the weight of history

Huijsen’s message included a long list of thanks – to the club, the president, the manager, his teammates, the fans. It sounded like a player who understands the scale of what he has just taken on.

At Madrid, the No. 4 shirt has never been neutral. It has been worn by captains, penalty takers, big-game specialists. It has lifted Champions League trophies and La Liga titles. It has argued with referees, scored in finals, bled in clásicos.

Now it belongs to a young defender who once laced up SR4 boots in the hope of being noticed. The club has noticed. The number is his.

The next step is the hardest one: proving, week after week, that he deserves to keep it.