Arsenal have made a real name for themselves in recent years as a club that gives youth a chance.
Bukayo Saka is the biggest name in recent years to become a superstar after graduating from Hale End, but he’s not the only one.
Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly have both made their breakthrough this season and are now regular starters for Arsenal.
Now, a young player on the Gunners’ radar has just been named among the world’s top 10 young footballers alongside Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly.
Arsenal target Jorrel Hato in ninth place in NxGn 2025 list
The player in question is Jorrel Hato, who has risen to prominence at Ajax in the last few years.
TBR Football chief correspondent Graeme Bailey understands that Arsenal are still keen on Hato, even with the emergence of Lewis-Skelly at left-back.
Liverpool are also interested in Hato, but Arsenal have been following the 19-year-old Dutchman for over two years now.
Goal.com’s NxGn 2025 list, which features the 50 best teenagers in world football, listed Hato in ninth place.
Hato is one place below Lewis-Skelly, who is eighth on the list, while Nwaneri is sixth in Goal.com’s yearly rankings piece.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Lamine Yamal | Barcelona |
| 2 | Estevao Willian | Palmeiras (Chelsea-bound) |
| 3 | Pau Cubarsi | Barcelona |
| 4 | Warren Zaire-Emery | Paris Saint-Germain |
| 5 | Endrick | Real Madrid |
| 6 | Ethan Nwaneri | Arsenal |
| 7 | Claudio Echeverri | Manchester City |
| 8 | Myles Lewis-Skelly | Arsenal |
| 9 | Jorrel Hato | Ajax |
| 10 | Francesco Camarda | AC Milan |
Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur’s Archie Gray was named in 13th place.
What Hato could bring to Arsenal
A 19-year-old footballer who’s outgrown the Under-21s and is in and around a top-flight club’s first-team is not all that common.
It’s even more uncommon to see an 19-year-old having clocked up a century of appearances for a top-flight club and on five caps for his nation, but Hato is not a typical footballer.
Fabrizio Romano wrote about Hato last May: “Arsenal keep monitoring Ajax young centre-back Jorrel Hato as one of the best talents in Europe in his position.”
Meanwhile, Goal.com wrote of Hato: ‘(He) has grown into one of the best defenders in the Eredivisie while also showcasing his versatility by playing all across the backline before settling in at left-back this season.
‘He is both comfortable in possession and able to mix it physically despite not having an imposing stature, meaning he has everything needed to one day become an elite centre-back.
‘That combination of attributes, combined with the maturity that has come from his extended exposure to top-flight football, means that Hato is not short of suitors, with Arsenal and Liverpool thought to be at the front of the queue as the summer approaches.’
Hato used to play alongside Jurrien Timber at Ajax and previously said he’s modelled his game on the Arsenal ace.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
In terms of the defender’s price, Hato has been valued at £40m in the past, but it remains to be seen how much Ajax would demand for such a big talent.
