Vesper

The twitter clout chaser Vince has the price wrong

Brilliant if it happens.

We absolutely a ner WC right footed CB and a WC GKer, even after Simons signs (if we actually get him). Right footed CBs I rate who are even remotely available Italics means major injury concerns Bremer Ousmane Diomande Marc Guéhi Ilya Zabarnyi (IF PSG fail, he is my number one want) Giorgio Scalvini Ronald Araujo Marquinhos (basically impossible) Antonio Silva Tomás Araújo (2nd choice if Zabarnyi is gone) Mario Gila Joel Ordóñez Pietro Comuzzo Josip Sutalo Mohamed Simakan Ryan Flamingo

Yes. Scalvini worries me. Just like pre-injury Wes Fofana, I was a huge fan. But the instant Fofana had the horrowshow leg break with Leicester I perma crossed him off my target lists. Was horrified we bought him and worse yet, bought him for insane dosh. I sorta get the same vibes with Scalvini and his TWO in one season major injuries. I still think Scalvini can recover fully (Fofana is perma fucked, even if he can play he is a shadow of the pre injury Fofana), BUT I want to see a full all healthy season or two from Scalvini first.

I do not like that shit sale price. Only £21.5m. WTF

I support Khan and Labour. Trump is the actual cunt of cunts.

Neto is better as a RWer Gittens and Tyrique are better at LWer

They did.

No, no he isn't.

£35.5m for Hato is super fucking business 💪🏽

Chelsea agree £35.5m deal for Ajax’s Jorrel Hato and want RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons Hato, 19, set to sign seven-year deal at Stamford Bridge Dutch forward Simons could cost up to €70m https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jul/29/Chelsea-35m-deal-for-ajax-jorrel-hato-rb-leipzig-xavi-simons-transfer Chelsea have agreed to pay an initial €40m (£35.5m) for Jorrel Hato, with the teenage Ajax defender set to sign a seven-year contract at Stamford Bridge having already agreed personal terms. The Netherlands defender is due to fly to London for his medical in the coming days after Chelsea finalised the terms of the deal, which it is understood includes significant add-ons. The 19-year-old has made more than 100 appearances for Ajax’s first team and is capable of playing as a left-back or in central defence. He fits Chelsea’s policy of signing promising young players on long-term deals. Hato was not included in Ajax’s squad for pre-season competition the Como Cup on Sunday in anticipation of his impending move to Chelsea. In 2023 he became the youngest player to captain Ajax aged 17 and made his senior international debut a few weeks later. He is regarded as one of Europe’s brightest prospects and was part of the Netherlands Under-21 side that lost to England in the semi-finals of the European Championship in Slovakia last month. He will become Chelsea’s seventh signing of the summer after the arrivals of Liam Delap, João Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Estêvão, Dário Essugo and Mamadou Sarr. They are also in talks with RB Leipzig over a move for Xavi Simons, with the Netherlands forward thought to be valued at around €70m. The 22-year-old, who is capable of playing in several attacking roles, joined Leipzig from Paris Saint-Germain in January for €50m after two successful loan spells. Simons has also attracted interest from Bayern Munich but is thought to prefer a move to the Premier League. Chelsea have already sanctioned the departures of Kepa Arrizabalaga, Noni Madueke and Djordje Petrovic, while João Félix joined the Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr on Tuesday after a £44m deal was agreed.

What role would Hato play for Chelsea? Marc Cucurella led the Chelsea squad in minutes played across all competitions last season, and the lack of a natural alternative to him on the left side of defence exposes a thinner area of Enzo Maresca’s expensively assembled squad. Malo Gusto has been deployed at left-back, but is more comfortable on the right. Veiga was slated to be Cucurella’s long-term understudy, but struggled to win Maresca’s trust before pushing to go on loan to Juventus in January. With the Portugal international expected to depart permanently this summer, there is plenty of space for Hato to walk into. Despite being a very different physical profile from Cucurella (he stands at 6ft/182cm tall), Hato also possesses a remarkable number of similar qualities. As a left-back, he can overlap into crossing areas, invert into midfield to help his team control the middle of the pitch, or drive into the final third, where he is a more polished finisher than most defenders. Hato can also provide a quality option at centre-back. His versatility is impressive, and he has registered 100 professional appearances despite only turning 19 in March. Liam Twomey

How Liverpool can afford to buy Alexander Isak even after committing over £500m in two months https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6520277/2025/07/29/liverpool-afford-alexander-isak-transfer/ Liverpool’s largesse this summer has taken plenty aback, not least as it arrives following a dominant domestic showing last season. Having won the Premier League title in Arne Slot’s first year in the Anfield dugout, there’s been little suggestion of the club resting on their laurels. Wider dominance is the clear and stated aim, with heady transfer spending to go with tying down top goalscorer Mohamed Salah and captain Virgil van Dijk to contract extensions to replace their deals that were going to expire this summer. Including appropriate estimated fees and levies, alongside the £25million signing of Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia, who officially joined on July 1 after the deal was done last August, Liverpool’s spend in the past two months sits north of £300m ($400m). Even in the madcap world of modern-day transfers, that’s a huge sum. Using accounting years, only two clubs have previously exceeded that mark in single-season spending: Chelsea, twice, in 2022-23 and 2023-24, and Manchester City in 2017-18. Signing Alexander Isak too would take Liverpool beyond the £400m barrier, a realm only Chelsea have dared venture into. The latter have become almost synonymous with, shall we say, thinking outside the box; in each of the two seasons referenced, they avoided breaching Premier League profit and sustainability rules (PSR) through selling assets to fellow companies within the broader ownership group. Liverpool haven’t employed such tactics, so there’s naturally been plenty of wondering how exactly they can afford to do what they’re doing. Their owners at Fenway Sports Group (FSG) have long fielded accusations of frugality during their time at Anfield, pouring in money at a rate well below the level of peers. Across almost 14 years of ownership to the end of May last year, FSG provided £263.6m in funding to the club; Chelsea received £315m from their owners in 2023-24 alone. What’s more, much of FSG’s funding has been directed toward infrastructure projects, rather than squad improvements. To sign Isak, Liverpool will have to part with the third-highest fee ever paid for a footballer. Newcastle United would like conversations to start at about £150m for their Swedish striker, which might not prove attainable given he wants to leave and the list of realistic suitors is short. Yet even the £120m starting point Liverpool have previously communicated they are willing to make a deal at would only trail Paris Saint-Germain’s signings of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe when it comes to football’s richest transfers. To understand how Liverpool buying Isak is even a possibility, never mind his most realistic option from this vantage point, requires looking both forwards and backwards, as well as considering PSR and cash limits which, as we’ll see, can be very different things. What is their PSR position? Even before looking at their activity to date, it’s worth detailing where Liverpool stood at the onset of the summer. In 2023-24, they recorded a £57.1m pre-tax loss, the worst financial result in the club’s history. Yet, as The Athletic detailed in March, the big deficit was an exception: we projected Liverpool would be comfortably profitable last season. Premier League PSR is assessed over a rolling three-year period, meaning strong performance in a preceding financial year can set a club up nicely to spend in the following one. As with any club, Liverpool’s PSR loss figure is lower than their pre-tax one, as clubs can remove ‘allowable’ costs such as spending on youth development, or the club’s women’s team. In Liverpool’s case, those allowable costs are sizeable. We estimate they exceed £40m per season. In other words, that £57.1m pre-tax loss was far smaller within Liverpool’s PSR calculation. Correspondingly, the pre-tax profit we were already projecting for Liverpool in 2024-25 represents an even greater PSR profit. Across the past two seasons, the club’s combined PSR result is expected to be highly profitable — opening the door for them to post a large loss in 2025-26, if they chose to, while still remaining within the rules. How do they have so much cash? Separate to PSR is Liverpool’s cash position, which can be an obvious but underreported impediment to a club being active in the transfer market. FSG have long been keen to manage Liverpool sustainably, and that’s borne out in the strong cash position the club appears to have entered the summer with. To the end of the 2023-24 season, Liverpool owed a net £69.9m in transfer fees to other clubs, by far the lowest transfer debt of the Premier League’s ‘big six’ and pretty much middling across the division. That figure only fell last season, leaving Liverpool without large historic commitments hampering their ability to spend now. Compare that with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s March lamentation about Manchester United’s transfer debt — £271.6m at the end of last season, and even higher now — and you get a sense of how Liverpool are less restrained than others. What You Should Read Next The BookKeeper – Exploring Liverpool’s finances, England’s most profitable club In-depth analysis of Liverpool's economic situation from The Athletic's new specialist football finance writer Completion of works on the Anfield Road End in early 2024 brought an end to a significant period of infrastructure investment, releasing the club from sizeable cash commitments. Further ensuring plenty of cash to be tapped was the extension of a revolving credit facility (RCF) from £200m to £350m in September 2024. At the end of May that year, only £116m of the RCF had been drawn down. All of this is without getting into the fact Liverpool enjoyed record revenues in 2024-25, projected at over £700m, ones which are only expected to grow further this season. How much have Liverpool spent so far? Having established Liverpool’s strong PSR and cash positions, we can move onto determining just how much they’ve spent to date. Or, more pertinently, how much they’ve committed to in total spending. On transfer fees, agent fees and transfer levies, Liverpool’s estimated spend on Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong and Mamardashvili totals £314m. We don’t know the terms of when the various fees will be paid, but it seems a safe bet Liverpool’s transfer debt has jumped from lowly beginnings. Transfer fees tend to be widely reported at this level, but reliable information on how much players are paid is difficult to come by, and not only because there’s often little benefit to the involved parties in disclosing such figures. Clubs increasingly reward players with an array of performance bonuses which, if achieved, can mean the player’s actual annual wage strays far from the basic salary which might have leaked out back when they signed. Taking that crevasse-sized caveat into account, we’re necessarily limited in how accurately we can project what Liverpool have committed to in terms of paying their new recruits over their respective contracts, all of which run for a minimum of five years. Even so, estimates by The Athletic put the sum committed to those five new signings in excess of £250m over their contracts. Add that to the transfer fees above and we arrive at a commitment from Liverpool this summer to spend well in excess of half a billion pounds on new players. Even for a club with £700m-plus revenues, that’s a lot, especially when coupled with a wage bill which only trails Manchester City’s in England. How can they afford Isak too? As we’ve detailed, Liverpool have plenty of PSR headroom in 2025-26, and could stomach a big loss if they fancied it. The problem with that tactic is it does require mitigation further down the line. Come the 2027-28 season, the profit of last year falls off Liverpool’s calculation. That’s without getting into the intricacies of UEFA’s squad cost ratio (SCR), a measure which limits the proportion of income clubs can spent on transfer fees, wages and agent costs. Notably, income for SCR purposes includes a club’s profit on player sales (albeit a pro-rated version, which we won’t get into here). It is player sales which now hold the key to much of Liverpool’s financial strategy. Such sales will boost the bottom line in the current season, aiding both domestic and European PSR, as well as provide a cash boost and limit transfer debt from soaring too high. In fact, remarkable as it may seem, player sales in this window could prove enough to offset the in-year impact of Liverpool’s huge spending on incomings. They have probably already done so. To understand how that can possibly be the case, consider the sale of Luis Diaz to Bayern Munich. Diaz is to join the German champions for €75m (£65.6m; $87.4m). He arrived on Merseyside three and a half years ago for a fee which eventually saw £43m flow from Liverpool to Porto. That fee was expensed (amortised) across Diaz’s five-and-a-half-year contract, meaning his book value at the point of sale equated to roughly 36 per cent (two years out of five and a half) of the total fee spent on him. After adding on assumed agent fees and levies, that left Diaz’s book value at around £17.5m. Liverpool are selling him for £65.6m, thus crystallising a £48.1m profit — one which they book immediately into their 2025-26 accounts. The same is true of some far simpler sales. Pretty much all of the £30m generated from Jarell Quansah’s move to Bayer Leverkusen last month was also booked immediately as profit, likewise £8.4m received from Real Madrid for Trent Alexander-Arnold and £3m from West Bromwich Albion for Nat Phillips. A further £10m in profit came from selling Caoimhin Kelleher to Brentford. In all Liverpool have banked an estimated £99.5m profit on player sales already this summer. So Liverpool are in profit this summer? That £99.5m is just the transfer fees. The wages of those outgoings aren’t well-known but will all add up. Alexander-Arnold, for example, earned around £200,000 per week before bonuses, costing Liverpool a minimum £12m per year after employment taxes. While sales are booked immediately, transfer fees are spread across contracts. Liverpool’s May 31 accounting date offers a further disconnect, as player contracts run to 30 June, meaning a month’s worth of transfer fee at the end of a player’s contract will fall into the accounting period ostensibly covering the season after they’ve left the club. That has the corresponding impact of lowering the immediate hit. Ekitike, announced on July 23, will see just over 10 months of his fee and wages accounted for in 2025-26; it would have been 11 months if Liverpool’s financial year ran to the end of June. It might sound inconsequential, but at the level of fees involved here it makes a difference. On amortisation costs alone, we estimate Liverpool’s quintuple of new faces will hit the 2025-26 books to the tune of £56.3m. In other words, on fees, the combined £99.5m in player profits this summer comfortably outstrip this year’s amortisation cost stemming from new signings. That ignores wages, and Liverpool are paying big amounts to their new recruits, particularly Ekitike and Wirtz. Yet they’ve also shifted a chunk off the wage bill, principally through the departures of Alexander-Arnold and Diaz. Exact amounts are unknown but this summer’s sales could reasonably total around £25m in annual wages saved. The wages added via the new signings easily outweigh that sum but, as we’ve seen, player sales to date cover the new amortisation costs with over £40m left to play with. Our estimate of the total 2025-26 cost of Liverpool’s five new signings, across both fees and wages, is a little over £100m. That’s just a smidge more than the player profits Liverpool have generated this summer. Add in the wage savings and, as ludicrous as it may sound, Liverpool’s transfer activity has generated a profit in 2025-26. What would signing Isak mean for Liverpool’s future windows and current big-earners? Understand all that and you go a long way to understanding how, at least in the here and now, signing Isak even for the mooted £150m transfer fee (2025-26 amortisation after assorted costs: £28.6m) and £300,000 per week wage (2025-26 salary cost: £14.8m) wouldn’t blow Liverpool’s current finances to smithereens. Far from it. Signing Isak would add an estimated £43.4m in costs this year, but by our estimate that would only just tip the impact of this summer’s transfer dealings into a position of adding costs comparative to 2024-25. Owing to the timing of his signing, Isak’s annual cost would then increase to around £53m from next season. That highlights a rather glaring omission in all this. So far, we’ve only really considered 2025-26. Sales made this summer have generated £99.5m in profit but will garner precisely nothing next year; meanwhile, the new signings continue to cost the club a huge annual sum. Twelve months of costs for each of their new recruits will hit Liverpool’s books in 2026-27, and for several years after. We estimate business to date has loaded £109m onto Liverpool’s annual costs — a figure which rises to £162m if Isak is signed on a deal that would ultimately cost Liverpool over £250m across his time at Anfield. Predicting where Liverpool’s wider finances will go in the future is a fool’s errand, not least those elements linked to on-field performance. But by any stretch, an extra £109m-162m in annual costs, recurring for several years, is a big bill to pay. We outlined our estimation Liverpool’s business to date has committed them to well over half a billion in spending over the next five or six years; stick on a further £250m-plus for Isak and you’re at a sum in the region of £840m. That’s been offset by £99.5m in sales profits so far, alongside whatever wages have departed. There’s also the point that, in the case of Diaz, Liverpool benefit from not having to amortise his fee now he’s gone (the other departures had negligible amortisation costs). That’s around a further £9m saving on last year. All told, outgoings have probably generated income or produced cost savings this coming season totalling £136m, while adding the signing of Isak to existing business would see a total increase in this season’s costs of around £144m. In other words, the net impact of the summer’s activity would be to add just an extra £8m in costs in 2025-26. Isak would add a heavy future burden but Liverpool can afford him this summer (Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images) That does also ignore any impact from those new contracts handed to Van Dijk and Salah. Those two could become of greater significance to the matters of today in two years’ time. Their new contracts expire in 2027 and, while its unknown if they’ll stay beyond then, it’s a distinct possibility they won’t. Given the size of their pay packets, that would provide a significant reduction in Liverpool’s wage bill — thus helping to offset the costs this summer’s new signings are continuing to incur. That’s a while off, albeit Liverpool will already be thinking about how they foot the long-term costs they’re currently committing themselves to. As we’ve seen, remarkable as it may appear, this summer’s activity so far has actually generated a net profit in the club’s 2025-26 financial year. Any more big sales — like, for example, Darwin Nunez — would only further improve the bottom line. The potential problem comes later, when more sales are needed or other measures, like generating higher revenues or cutting costs, have to be undertaken. Liverpool’s summer is signing them up to a hefty future commitment, though in the here and now their finances continue to look rosy. That will remain the case even if they take the plunge and make Isak the most expensive player in English football history.

Chelsea agree deal to sell defender Ishe Samuels-Smith to Strasbourg https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6523605/2025/07/29/Chelsea-ishe-samuels-smith-strasbourg/ Chelsea have agreed a deal to sell under-21 defender Ishe Samuels-Smith to Strasbourg for an undisclosed fee. Samuels-Smith went to the French club for talks earlier this month and has now joined on a permanent basis. The 19-year-old was signed from Everton in 2023 for £4million but despite being highly rated at the club, did not make an appearance for the senior side. His expected chances of playing next season would be further reduced with Chelsea closing in on the signing Jorrel Hato from Ajax for a fee in excess of £40million. The Netherlands international will be primarily used at left back, which is where Samuels-Smith plays. Samuels-Smith, who signed a new deal at Stamford Bridge in April until 2031, is the latest player from Chelsea to go to Strasbourg, who are both owned by parent company BlueCo, this summer. Strasbourg bought midfielder Mathis Amougou for an undisclosed fee, while Mamadou Sarr and Mike Penders have joined on a season-long loan. Kendry Paez is also expected to move there on loan for the 2025-26 campaign.

and for us to pay half his wages

Romano should post it!!! LOLOLOLOL

The Issue ALEJANDRO GARNACHO SHOULD NEVER PLAY FOR Chelsea FOOTBALL CLUB. THE FANS DESERVE BETTER. Chelsea should avoid signing Alejandro Garnacho at all costs. While he's hyped as a future star, his 2024/25 season was anything but convincing—6 goals and 2 assists in 36 Premier League games is mediocre output for a winger playing regular minutes, especially when many of those contributions came in less meaningful fixtures. He had 0.7 succesful dribbles completed p90 which is downright terrible. He also missed 14 big chances. Garnacho went missing in key matches, lacked consistency, and too often looked like a YouTube highlight player rather than someone who could carry attacking responsibility at a top club. Worse still, Garnacho brings off-pitch drama that Chelsea do not need. His social media antics—liking posts criticizing his own manager, triggering internal investigations, and deactivating his X account—are the actions of someone who hasn’t matured professionally. His brother and agent, Roberto Garnacho, has only poured fuel on the fire: from publicly lashing out at Manchester United’s management to calling out Chelsea star Cole Palmer online. When fans criticize Garnacho, Roberto jumps into the replies with petty, defensive digs, creating unnecessary distractions and controversy. That kind of circus doesn't belong at a club trying to rebuild. And Chelsea already have a better solution: they’ve signed Jamie Bynoe-Gittens from Borussia Dortmund—a talented, grounded winger with high upside and none of the baggage. Gittens brings Bundesliga experience, end product, and coachability, and he arrives without a trail of tabloid headlines or a Twitter-warrior brother. In short, Garnacho may have raw talent, but his inconsistent performances, ego issues, and disruptive entourage make him a massive liability. Chelsea should be building a disciplined, focused team—not handing the keys to a teenage diva and his mouthy brother.

3 month plus old news

years? days

he was weak in the FCWC

what the fuckery!!!!!!

Newcastle United https://thedailybriefing.io/i/169406914/newcastle-united Newcastle are in contact with Benjamin Šeško's camp but have not reached any agreement. RB Leipzig have yet to receive a formal offer, and any potential deal may hinge on the future of Alexander Isak. (Florian Plettenberg) Eddie Howe on chances for Isak to join Newcastle squad on tour next week: “No, no chance”. Yoane Wissa is still pushing for a move to Newcastle, but Brentford have told the club to pay over £50m or back off. Wissa feels the club has broken a verbal agreement from last year, which allowed him to leave for £26m this summer. (Ben Jacobs)

England’s Lucy Bronze says she played in Euros with fractured leg: ‘It’s painful but I’m going to party’ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6518788/2025/07/27/england-women-euros-bronze-injury-leg/ England defender Lucy Bronze says that she played the entirety of the Women’s European Championship tournament with a fractured tibia in her left leg. The 33-year-old played in all six of England’s matches in a successful Euro campaign, including playing 105 minutes in the final against Spain, which England won via a penalty shootout. However, the Chelsea defender, who was taken off at half-time of extra-time with a knee injury, revealed after the final whistle that she had entered the tournament with an injury. What You Should Read Next England 1-1 Spain AET (3-1 on pens): Wiegman gets her calls right as Lionesses win Euro 2025 Michael Cox, Laia Cervello Herrero and Tamerra Griffin analyse the main talking points of the 2025 UEFA Women's Championship final Speaking to BBC Sport after the win, she said: “I’ve played the whole tournament with a fractured tibia, but nobody knew, and I’ve hurt my knee today on my other leg. “Which is why the girls gave me a lot of love after the Sweden game because I’ve been in a lot of pain. If that is what it takes to play for England, that is what I’ll do. It’s very painful, but I’m going to party.” Bronze, who was playing in her seventh major tournament with England, had several key moments during Euro 2025, including a pivotal penalty during the shootout victory over Sweden on July 17. The defender celebrated with her team-mates with a visible bandage on her right knee and was seen struggling to walk during post-match jubilation. The Euros victory was Bronze’s 26th career trophy. “We never lost belief in ourselves,” she added. “There was a lot of noise on the outside, but we stuck together. To go to extra time back to back to back is incredible. We give each other energy and what we’ve done today is incredible. “I don’t think we were thinking too much about the World Cup (final defeat). It always goes that they win, then we win, then they win, so it was our turn today. “To win on penalties is an amazing feeling, but to lose on penalties is the worst feeling. They (Spain) are great players and they’ve achieved a lot. It wasn’t meant for them today, it was meant for England.”

Meet Jorrel Hato, the Ajax teenager on cusp of Chelsea move: ‘I want to achieve big things’ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6519740/2025/07/28/jorrel-hato-Chelsea-transfer-interview/ Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared on The Athletic in September 2024. Jorrel Hato might be young, but the Dutch centre-back is used to taking responsibility. The evening before he spoke to The Athletic in April 2024 — back when Hato was 18 — 36-time Eredivisie champions Ajax conceded a stoppage-time equaliser in a 1-1 home draw against mid-table Go Ahead Eagles. It was not Hato’s fault — goalkeeper Diant Ramaj dropped a simple cross, and after sprinting back to the goal line, Hato couldn’t quite block the shot — yet rewatching footage in a building overlooking the Ajax academy pitches, he blamed himself anyway. “I watched it back already,” he said at the time, revealing later he does video work each week with the squad’s oldest player, 40-year-old reserve goalkeeper Remko Pasveer. “I dropped backwards because there was danger, the ball came onto my hips… but ah, it was an awkward height. I touched it, but it wasn’t enough.” A bridge connects the academy to the Amsterdam club’s 55,000-capacity Johan Cruyff Arena, and staff emphasise the metaphorical importance of walking over it to join the first team. Compared to the previous generation of Ajax academy talents, such as Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt, the now 19-year-old crossed into a more challenging situation. In the 2023-24 season, the club came fifth in the Eredivisie table, their worst finish since the 1990s, and because Ajax struggle financially without the Champions League, doing much better domestically is imperative. Hato, rather than settling into a winning team, instantly had to become part of a transformation. “I know about the players who get into the first team when they’re 17 or 18 and play in an Ajax team that was dominating the league and going far in Europe,” he said of his predecessors. “It’s a different situation for me. I have more responsibility than those players. So it’s different, and it is difficult, but I’m doing it well.” Already evident is a preternatural calmness on the ball, a characteristic of Ajax academy defenders, and allied with his passing range and physical traits, Hato looks like one of the most talented young centre-backs in Europe. EA Sports FC 24 gave him the highest potential rating among the under-21 centre-backs in the video game. He has lived up to that billing. In the 2023-24 Eredivisie season, he completed the third-most passes and had the highest completion percentage. In November, at 17 years and eight months, he became the youngest player to captain Ajax. A week later, he replaced Virgil van Dijk at half-time of a European Championship qualifier against Gibraltar, becoming the second-youngest player to represent the Netherlands since 1931, behind De Ligt. With Ajax needing to make sales to fund incoming transfers in summer 2024, Europe’s biggest clubs were on notice, but Hato was at the heart of the project to rebuild the club. He signed a new contract in March 2024 and reaffirmed in June 2024 that he was staying. Despite needing to facilitate up to 10 departures during the window, Ajax were clear: Hato was not for sale. It worked out for them, as they finished second in the Eredivisie, just a point behind winners PSV. Hato played 31 games in the league, starting 30 of them. “This season was… let’s say it was a learning season for all of us,” he said of the 2023-24 campaign. “But even more so for me as an 18-year-old guy. I can take these learnings in the future. I want to achieve more, to achieve big things with Ajax: championships, playing in Europe, being at the highest levels of the Champions League. “It’s not rare that people are going to speculate or think I’ll go to another club, but for me, it was always, ‘I want to stay at Ajax and achieve things’.” Of course, potential bidders still kept tabs. It now looks as though he will move to Chelsea this summer, with the west London club closing in on a deal to sign him. Moving to the capital will see Hato share a city with his idol. “Coaches told me that I always needed to look up to Virgil van Dijk, but when I played in the under-18s, I always looked up to Jurrien Timber,” Hato said. “I played with him for six months before he left, and I learned so much from him. When I came into the first team, he was my mentor. I love his playing style, his calmness on the ball. And he is just a great defender in defending terms.” When Timber was signed by Arsenal in the summer of 2023, the qualities that attracted manager Mikel Arteta included his bravery and ability in possession — not only passing but also carrying. Those traits are evident now in his younger counterpart. Sitting with The Athletic, Hato watches a clip (embedded below) of himself dribbling through opponents Napoli in a UEFA Youth League game in 2022. “If you play at the Ajax academy, you always get that bravery the coaches tell you to play with,” Hato says. “It’s one of my qualities to dribble past players and create a chance. There needs to be space to do it, but if there is space, I will always try to look forward for that.” Does he do it naturally, or was it coached into him? “A little bit of both,” he replies. “I have it naturally, but coaches tell me that I can do it more often.” One of those coaches was Dolf Roks, a former head of academy at Sparta Rotterdam, Hato’s first professional club, before he left at 12 years old to join Ajax. Roks also now coaches in their youth setup. Hato helped Ajax improve last season (Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images) “There was always the feeling that he had more (bravery) than he’d show us,” Roks says. “There was one game where he was really aggressive, where he was really going for the ball, and I told him, ‘That’s what you have to do’. He was comfortable, so we had to make him show us what he could really do.” Hato’s football journey began in the shadow of Rotterdam’s De Kuip stadium, home of Ajax’s bitter rivals Feyenoord. His family were Feyenoord fans and his first football involvement came when his father, a plasterer, took him down to local team De Zwervers, who were effectively situated at the southern end of the Eredivisie side’s training pitches. In his first year, he played on the left wing for their top youth team. “He was so easy on the ball,” said Michel Koks, the club’s president. “All the kids only want to dribble and never pass, but he’d be happy to do it. He’d always stand slightly away, to the left or the right, and see where the space is. That’s how you knew, at five years old, that he was going to be a good footballer.” He was also a terrible loser. “He’d always want to be alone,” said Koks, remembering how Hato would walk behind the goal at the far end of the pitch. “He just could not have it when the people around him were smiling after a loss. It wasn’t what he wanted.” “I remember,” said Hato, smiling at the memory. “When I was very young, I’d always cry when I lost. My father would be upset at me for that. But the only thing that would make it better was the next win.” Despite being under their noses, Hato was ignored by Feyenoord. Instead, he joined neighbours Sparta Rotterdam before switching to Ajax, enticed by their academy’s historic success. According to internal data, 84 per cent of players who appear for the Amsterdam side at under-17s level will have some sort of professional career in the game. Hato’s brother, Elgyn, made the same move from Sparta to Ajax’s under-14s last year. “They (Feyenoord) never wanted me, but it’s OK,” Hato said. “I play at Ajax, and I play in the first team. Of course, when you grow up in Rotterdam, you grow up as a Feyenoord kid. But if a club like Ajax comes, you don’t say no.” Part of the rivalry between Feyenoord and Ajax is down to the personalities of their respective cities. Rotterdammers perceive themselves to be industrious and down-to-earth, and consider Amsterdammers privileged and over-stylised. Ajax fans, for their part, say this feeling is mired in jealousy towards their status as the Netherlands’ most successful club. When he spoke to The Athletic, Hato still lived in Rotterdam, close to De Kuip, and drove just over an hour north to Ajax’s training complex each day. It is fitting, in a way, a player who, in his footballing traits, is now half-Rotterdam, half-Amsterdam. “The Feyenoord slogan is ‘geen woorden maar daden’ (actions rather than words),” said Koks. “It comes from the harbour (it is a major port city), a long time ago. It’s the difference between the two cities, and you can see it in him. He’s working hard, he knows where he comes from, but now he’s a stylish player, developing a little bit more show.” Coaches at Ajax were aware last year that Hato was not yet physically mature, which they think could enable him to improve even further once that happens. “I worked with (73-cap Dutch international and Ajax great) Frank Rijkaard, and Jorrel has the same attitude,” said Roks. “But also, at 18 years old, he had the same sense of needing to grow into his body, to get in tune with it. And when you see his body, it is clear that in two years, he will be more stable when he’s more used to his physique. Hato was not targeted by Feyenoord despite coming from Rotterdam (Maurice van Steen/ANP/AFP via Getty Images) “He’s fast. I don’t know if people recognise how fast he is, but reaching the next level in duels is very hard. He’s got to say, ‘It’s my ball, it’s for me’. Then, it’s doing what he’s already shown he can — to have the ball, to be brave and dribble in, and to play balls beyond the back line.” Last season, he played the 12th-most passes into the final third across the entire Eredivisie. The challenge now is for him to get nearer the top of the list in that metric. Two days after he spoke to The Athletic in April 2024, Ajax lost 6-0 to Feyenoord at De Kuip. It is their heaviest defeat in the match known as De Klassieker, and their largest in any match for 97 years. Given a torrid time at left-back by now-Brighton player Yankuba Minteh, this was Hato’s toughest day as a professional. That he will rebound, however, seems clear. “I always go back to my standards,” said Hato. “It’s just playing football, doing my thing, and not letting the outside noise affect your skills. In the academy, we heard about (basketball icon) Michael Jordan, saying that he missed 1,200 free throws, and that is why he succeeded. “I’m not afraid to make mistakes. Everyone makes them. It’s not fun or good, but life goes on — and so you learn from them.”