Chelsea’s summer transfer business has continued apace with the £34m signing of Jorrel Hato (£5.0m) from Ajax.
The 19-year-old, left-sided defender played for his boyhood club more than 100 times and became the youngest player in Ajax’s history to captain the club.
Hato has been priced at £5.0m in FPL but how will he impact the upcoming season – and the game-time of some of his new teammates?
We take a look in this Scout Report.
The Quotes
“I was really thinking about my future and this is what I wanted. I think I will be a good fit for the way Chelsea are playing, so I was sure about taking my step to Chelsea.” – Jorrel Hato
“He’s fast, he’s strong, a good height, not too tall for a central defender, overall good technique, pretty complete.” – Frank de Boer
The History + Stats
| Season | Starts (sub) | Minutes | Goals | Assists |
| 2024/25 | 30 (1) | 2592 | 2 | 6 |
| 2023/24 | 33 (0) | 2962 | 1 | 2 |
| 2022/23 | 6 (5) | 608 | 0 | 0 |
* Eredivisie only
Hato, who joined the prestigious Ajax academy system aged 12, made his Eredivisie debut for Ajax in February 2023. His first league start for the club followed later that season.
The Dutchman quickly broke into the first team and started all but one of Ajax’s Eredivisie matches in 2023/24. All but six of Hato’s 33 starts came as the left-sided centre-back.
However, last season Hato predominantly played an inverted left-back role, with 28 of his 31 appearances coming in that position. This positional change saw an increase in his attacking threat as the youngster delivered eight attacking returns.
Hato has featured for the Netherlands senior team on six occasions, with his most recent cap coming in March of this year.
The Underlying Numbers
Above: FBRef Scout Report – 2023/24 (left) and 2024/25 (right)
Hato’s underlying numbers are really a tale of two seasons and two positions. Using the data tables above, we can see his attacking threat increased significantly as he played more of a left-back role last season.
The assists per 90 figure of 0.21 particularly stands out, as does his high volume of penalty area touches when given the license to go forward. Chelsea’s left-back popping up in the opposition box has become a theme under Maresca.
Apart from Trevoh Chalobah (£5.0m), who spent the first half of the season on loan at Crystal Palace, no other Chelsea defender would have picked up defensive contribution (DC) points on more than three occasions.
Based on Chelsea’s style of play and Hato’s underlying numbers at Ajax, averaging around 7.4 and 6.2 CBITs per 90, it seems unlikely he would be a DC points regular.
Where does Hato fit in at Chelsea
Chelsea’s need for left-back reinforcement is obvious.
Following Renato Veiga’s decision to seek regular minutes in January, Chelsea were left without competition for Marc Cucurella (£6.0m) at left-back. This led to Cucurella topping the charts for minutes played for the entire Chelsea squad, with nearly 5,000 for club and country.
According to the Athletic, Chelsea believe that the eight-year age gap between Cucurella and Hato “creates the perfect mentor/mentee relationship at left-back”.
With just under half of Hato’s senior minutes coming at centre-back, Enzo Maresca will no doubt relish his versatility and willingness to play different roles, something Veiga fell foul of.
“If there is a player who just wants to play in just one position, they are going to struggle.” – Enzo Maresca
An injury to Levi Colwill (£5.0m) is something to monitor, for instance. Colwill was near enough an ever-present in 2024/25, backed up by Benoit Badiashile (£4.5m) when needed.
That’s not to say that Enzo Maresca couldn’t work a system with Cucurella, Hato and another left-sided centre-back! It’s not a stretch to imagine a line-up with Cucurella bombing on as the left-winger with Reece James (£5.5m), Colwill/Badiashile and Hato forming a back three.
One final note: Hato is around 10cm taller than Cucurella, so he provides Maresca with a more aerially dominant option in certain fixtures.
Don’t be surprised, then, to see Cucurella’s iron grip on the left-back slot loosened slightly – even if he’ll likely start the vast majority of league games initially.
Is Hato worth buying in FPL?
As it stands, no, Hato is not an option in FPL. In the immediate future, it would take a lengthy Cucurella injury or ban, or injuries to both Badiashile and Colwill, to make the Dutchman a reliable option for FPL managers.
But if Hato impresses Maresca to such an extent that Italian finds a way to regularly play them both together, the chance to save £1.0m on Cucurella’s premium price tag would no doubt be welcome.
In the meantime, the Fantasy option to exploit Chelsea’s strong run of fixtures on the cheap may well be Wesley Fofana (£4.5m), who has returned to first-team training following a long absence.
