Who is Jorrel Hato: The Ajax defender linked with a move to Arsenal | OneFootball

Highlights

Arsenal look likely to make a move for yet another young and versatile Dutch defender from Ajax. 17-year-old Jorrel Hato could follow in the footsteps of former teammate and fellow countryman Jurrien Timber and make the short jump over the North Sea to the Emirates Stadium, either in this window or the summer one.

Hato is another in a long line of De Toekomst graduates, and he has played every single minute of the Eredivisie campaign so far, showing just how much faith the Ajax management have in their most recent graduate. Furthermore, he is the third-youngest player to make their debut for Ajax in the Eredivisie, after current Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch and legendary midfielder Clarence Seerdorf.

He has also already made his debut for the Dutch senior international team. Ronald Koeman, his national team manager and former legendary centre-back himself, is a fan and praised the player after a 6-0 win over minnows Gibraltar back in November.

He said: “I was able to assess him better in the training sessions. There he had to defend Wout Weghorst and other attackers. I really liked that. He adapted very easily and plays with bravado. It’s nice that you can let those kinds of boys make their debut.”

Despite being so young, Hato often speaks with an air of humility. His surprise at being called up to the Dutch national team exemplfies this.

He said: “I’m glad I was invited. I think I was called up because I have done my best. It’s all about whether I do well to be called up. I was completely surprised. I was in the gym and then Steven Bergwijn came to me, he had already seen it. He told me that I had been called up. I couldn’t really believe it at first, but when I saw it myself, I couldn’t help but smile. My teammates are of course all happy for me, just like my parents, brother, and other people around me.”

Jorrel Hato's style of play

The 17-year-old can play centre-back and left-back

The youngster typifies the Total Football philosophy that was adopted by Ajax in the 1970s. He is tactically flexible as he can operate at both centre-back and left-back and has a strong passing range and good technical skills on the ball. He often drives with the ball out of the defensive line, attempting 1.38 takeons per 90 minutes. Additionally, 60% of his carrying yards are progressive, further showcasing his dynamism from the back line.

At six foot, he is a solid height, and while not the tallest, he does possess great anticipation and jumping reach that allows him to be aerially strong. His three aerial duels won per 90 minutes rank him in the 70th percentile among Eredivisie centre-backs, per FBref. He is even better on the ground defensively, as he has made more tackles, won more ground duels, and made the most interceptions inside his own box, according to Sqauwka. His strong defensive play has been one of the keys to improving the worst start in Ajax's history that saw them sit bottom of the Eredivisie after the opening 10 games. They are now fifth, and they have won five of their last seven games.

Those strong numbers might be skewed by Ajax being poor to start the season, offering up more chances for him to make those tackles, duels, and interceptions. However, a strong completion rate of those actions really does show that his defensive abilities are strong, and while William Saliba and Gabriel are good players, it cannot hurt Arsenal to add a young player who is already playing at an elite level, within the Eredivisie at least.

Hato would fit in very well at Arsenal

Mikel Arteta likes a player who is versatile

A move to Arsenal does make sense for Hato. The Gunners seem to value positional versatility in their back four as Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are players that can operate both at centre-back and at full-back. Additionally, he seems open to such a move.

After Timber's switch, he said: "Unfortunately, he was seriously injured in his first Premier League game for Arsenal, but he is still young and has a bright future ahead of him. In any case, the move to Arsenal was a wonderful one for him. It is also my dream to one day make such a transfer, but I realise that I still have a very long way to go.”

Arteta has admitted that the club are short in some areas, and the defence is almost certainly one of these, stating: "We have certain targets and ideas. We don’t know how the squad is going to look in two weeks' time. It’s a very tricky market that shifts quite quickly. If there is something that can improve the squad, we’re always going to be open to do that. At the moment it’s very difficult, we are really short. There are areas where we’ve been exposed in the last few weeks. Hopefully we get players back. In what condition and when, that’s a different question."

Currently, Jurrien Timber is out long-term after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury on his Premier League debut, and Tomiyasu has been out with a calf injury since the start of December, only just returning. Furthermore, he will now be unavailable for Arsenal as he will be on international duty with Japan as they aim to regain the Asian Cup for the first time since 2011.

Oleksandr Zinchenko, meanwhile, is also injured currently but should be back once Premier League action resumes for Arsenal on the 20th of January against Crystal Palace. The Ukrainian, however, has been struggling at times during this season and hasn't hit the same heights that he did in the previous campaign. This could be down to the potent left-sided trio of Granit Xhaka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Zinchenko being broken up in the summer due to Xhaka moving to Bayer Leverkusen.

The move could also go a long way to solving the issue that has emerged regarding Arsenal and their left-back and, as previously mentioned, signing a young versatile defender would not hurt The Gunners one bit, and adding Hato's talent either in January or in the summer transfer window would provide depth and quality to Arsenal's backline.