Chelsea news: Why sign Jorrel Hato?

Why Chelsea are signing HatoImage source, Getty ImagesChelsea have agreed a £37m deal to sign Ajax defender Jorrel Hato, subject to clearance by the Dutch club’s supervisory board – and it is a signing that makes sense for the dynamics of Chelsea’s bloated squad.The Blues boast seven centre-backs in their current squad but only Levi Colwill, who played regularly last season, and Benoit Badiashile are naturally left-sided. Badiashile’s 2024-25 campaign was disrupted by a hamstring injury in December while just three Premier League starts suggests head coach Enzo Maresca wants a different option to compete with Colwill in the heart of defence.Hato brings versatility having spent large parts of last season at Ajax playing at left-back and, with Ben Chilwell firmly out of favour, the 19-year-old can also offer competition to regular left-back Marc Cucurella given the Champions League campaign to come.In 2023-24, Hato played 80% of his football at centre-back, most commonly in a 4-2-3-1 formation. However, last season, new head coach Francesco Farioli deployed him at left-back for 94% of his minutes, as part of a 4-3-3 formation.Hato has already played 111 competitive games for Ajax’s first team, after making his debut aged just 16 years and 335 days in 2023. That made him the third-youngest player to feature for the club in Eredivisie after Clarence Seedorf and Ryan Gravenberch. He also won his first Netherlands cap less than a year later.Since that first appearance, Hato has been nearly ever-present for Ajax. Of players from Europe’s top six leagues born after 1 January 2003, Hato has played the most minutes at club level in all competitions since the start of 2023-24 (8,347), ahead of Jude Bellingham (7,988) and Lamine Yamal (7,506).