Ilias Bronkhorst: Huddersfield complete free transfer for Dutch-Moroccan right-back from Excelsior Rotterdam

Huddersfield Town have completed the signing of right-back Ilias Bronkhorst from Excelsior Rotterdam on a free transfer, with the deal officially registered to begin on 2026-07-03 and running until 2028-06-30.

The move takes the 29-year-old defender out of the Eredivisie and into Englands League One, where Huddersfield are preparing for life in the third tier. Despite arriving without a transfer fee, Bronkhorst joins with a market valuation of 700k, underlining the scale of business for a club operating outside the Premier League and Championship.

Bronkhorsts switch from Excelsior to Huddersfield is confirmed in the transfer records, ending his spell in Rotterdam that began in the 2024-25 season. The Dutch-Moroccan defender leaves the Eredivisie side after his market value rose steadily during his time there, climbing from 425,000 euros shortly after his arrival to 700,000 euros shortly before his departure.

Born in Haarlem and standing at 1.85m, Bronkhorst has built a career as a specialist right-back, operating predominantly on his favoured right foot. He holds dual nationality with the Netherlands and Morocco, and has spent his entire professional career to date in Dutch football before agreeing terms with Huddersfield.

His confirmed move to England follows a long domestic route through the Dutch system. After progressing from Koninklijke HFCs youth sides stepping up from the U19s to U21s and then to the senior team he earned his first professional transfer to SC Telstar in 2018. Three years with Telstar preceded a 2021 move to NEC Nijmegen, where he gained exposure at a higher level and maintained a six-figure market value.

In 2023 he joined FC Dordrecht, with another transfer following in 2024 as Excelsior Rotterdam brought him in. At each step his valuation generally increased, reflecting a defender regarded as reliable and steadily improving rather than a speculative project. By the time Huddersfield moved to secure his services on a free, his market worth officially logged at 700k on 2026-05-28 was at its peak.

The switch also means Bronkhorst is now competing abroad for the first time, trading a career spent entirely in the Netherlands for the demands of League One football in England. Huddersfield, historically established in higher divisions, are attempting to rebuild, and adding an experienced, prime-age full-back from the Eredivisie aligns with that objective.

No recent match details or current-season appearance statistics are listed in the provided data, but the documented rise in his valuation through Telstar, NEC, Dordrecht and Excelsior suggests consistent involvement and positive assessments over several seasons. There is no indication in the records that he became a free agent at any point before this move; instead, the free transfer status appears to be the result of contractual circumstances at Excelsior ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

For Bronkhorst, who turned 29 in 2026, this confirmed transfer marks a significant competitive shift: from Dutch domestic leagues to the physical and congested schedule of League One, at a club with ambitions of returning to higher levels of English football. How he adapts to the intensity and style of the division will go a long way to defining the next phase of his career and shaping his reputation as a late-blooming defender capable of translating Eredivisie experience into consistent performances in England.