Jorrel Hato 🗣️ Now is my moment to seize the opportunity and join the biggest club

Speaking for the first time as a Chelsea player, the  new CHELSEA defender Jorrel Hato explains why he knew this was the right time to take the next step in his career, why the Blues is the right place to do it, as well as reflecting on his rapid rise at Ajax.

‘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.

‘For sure it was a big decision. I played seven years at Ajax and for me it was home – the people, the players, the coaches, the culture. So it was not easy to leave, but my feeling was that at this moment I needed to make a step to the biggest club in the biggest competitions, and for me this was the right decision at the right time.’

Perhaps it should be no surprise to discover that Hato is someone who thinks carefully about his choices, to make certain it is the right one, showing plenty of maturity for a teenager. After all, we are talking about the youngest player ever to captain Ajax in a European fixture – doing so aged just 17 – no small feat at a club famed for developing young talent.

In fact, this is not the first time we have seen it, either. During his young career so far, he has already made big decisions about his future which have gone on to be proven correct, and each time they came after a careful and patient weighing up of his options for the future.

Two of those in particular stand out for showing maturity and wisdom, not to mention ambition. The first came at just 12 years old, when he left Sparta in his hometown Rotterdam to join the prestigious Ajax youth system.

‘It was a big decision, for over five years I travelled from Rotterdam to Amsterdam every day, until I moved house to Amsterdam when I was 18,’ he recalls.

So for five years I travelled there to play with Ajax. Ajax arranged transport for me until I was 13 or 14, and after that I went on the train.’

The next came at 16. Already there was talk of a possible move abroad to one of Europe’s biggest clubs, but on this occasion, Hato decided the best choice was to remain where he was, signing his first professional contract with Ajax.

It wasn’t the cautious option, though, but the ambitious one, as he declared upon signing that he aimed to be a first-team regular at the club before the end of that initial three-year contract. That statement must have raised a few eyebrows, coming from a player fresh out of schoolboy football, but there was no doubt in Hato’s mind about what he could achieve.

‘I wasn’t hoping I would do it, I was certain,' he explained. 'I knew. I just thought “I will”. I had a lot of trust in myself even at that age, so I thought to myself, “okay, when I am 18 or 19 I will be a first-team player”.'

So why was Hato so sure that was the right time to continue his development at Ajax, and now is the right time to take the next step in his career at Chelsea? What has changed in the last three years? Well, quite a lot, actually.

‘At the time my head was only with Ajax. I just wanted to make my debut, to play a lot of games. Now we are three years later, I am 19 and I have already played more than 100 games for Ajax, so I have got some experience,’ Jorrel explains.

This was for me the right time to make a big step, to come to the Premier League, to come to Chelsea. And now I’m here!’

If anything, his prediction of being a first-team regular at Ajax within three years proved to be overly cautious. He managed it in less than half that time.

That contract was signed ahead of the 2022/23 season, which he started in the youth team. He ended it by being named in the senior side’s starting line-up for the Dutch Cup final against PSV Eindhoven, by which time he had already become the third-youngest player ever to make his league debut for Ajax, while still 16. The only people to do so younger are current Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch and four-time UEFA Champions League winner Clarence Seedorf.

Incredibly in 2023/24, prior to missing the last league game of the season through suspension, Hato had featured in all but eight minutes of Ajax’s campaign across all competitions.

By last season, he was one of Ajax’s vice-captains and received the Johan Cruyff Talent of the Year award for the Eredivisie’s best young player. It is fair to say that, although Jorrel is careful and considered in his decisions, he is not someone who hangs around once he sets his mind to something.

‘Actually it happened faster than I thought,' the 19-year-old continues. 'A couple of months after saying that, I made my debut, then after that I became a starter in the first team. But I was ambitious, I knew what I wanted and I went for it.

‘At the time it didn’t feel like it was happening quickly, but now when I’m looking back, everything went really quick. At that age you don’t think about it like that, you're just 

‘I started in the Under-18s and in November was my debut for Jong Ajax and then in January was my first-team debut. I was in the starting XI I think by March and started the cup final in April. It was so fast.’

So, as we have seen in the past, when Jorrel knows, he knows. He doesn't rush his decisions, but neither will he waste any time once it has been made.

The other big decisions in Hato's young career were overwhelmingly vindicated. We can’t wait to see what he can achieve next to prove why now was the right time, and why Chelsea was the right club.

Credit @chelseafc