Chelsea face Liverpool fight to land perfect 18 year old Cucurella backup | OneFootball

The summer is still some way off, but for sporting directors across world football, this is already the time to look ahead and start putting moves together.

The more in demand the player, the earlier you want to get to work convincing them they should join you, and the sooner you want to start negotiating with their club to ensure you get a good deal.

There aren’t many players likely to be more in demand than Jorrel Hato this summer. We already wrote up the Chelsea links to the young defender, now according to CaughtOffside there is major interest from Liverpool. They were keen on the young Ajax defender when Jurgen Klopp was in charge, and bringing in a Dutch manager to follow him has surely only helped.

There is a long battle to be fought, but it sounds to us like Arne Slot’s team have an early advantage.

Chelsea will have to be resourceful to land dream young Cucurella backup

Chelsea target Jorrel Hato in action for Ajax (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

So, where does this leave Chelsea? Hato certainly fits with our current philosophy of signing up all the best young players. Ben Jacobs has already confirmed our interest.

The 18 year old centre back is also capable of playing left back, and it’s easy to see him coming in as a great young backup for Marc Cucurella to start with, before eventually developing and playing more centrally. Enzo Maresca likes to use the Spaniard coming inside into midfield, and we can see Hato fitting that role nicely.

But with so many top teams like Liverpool interested, it’s going to be tough to sign him up. We just don’t present the most tempting option right now, especially compared to the Reds who look like they could be set for a period of dominance both domestically and continentally.