Liverpool has a massive summer transfer window ahead. Lists of targets will have been drawn up months ago, but Arne Slot has just been issued a reminder about one exciting young player.
The extent of Slot’s task in the summer still remains to be seen. If he has to replace Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the space of one transfer window, it might just be the biggest rebuild the club has ever witnessed.
But even if Liverpool managed to tie all of the trio down to new contracts, it’s clear that transfer business would still be required. Slot has done brilliantly with the squad he inherited, but he has also got a feel of the areas to improve.
Naturally, any changes will need to be made within the self-sustaining FSG model. That’s why losing Alexander-Arnold would be particularly galling, given that it would involve an asset worth at least $100m simply walking away for nothing.
It is not an enviable task for Richard Hughes, who has been placed in a tight corner from the moment he took the reins. But Michael Edwards clearly believes that the new sporting director is the man to carry on his work, unearthing data-driven gems who can ultimately form the backbone of the next great Liverpool side without blowing the budget to smithereens.
Versatile players can be helpful in this regard. Genuine depth remains crucial — nobody can play two positions at once, after all — but a squad option who can cover multiple roles would give Slot a little more flexibility to rotate his team without necessitating a new signing for almost every position.
And with so many unknowns still attached to the defense in particular, someone who can cover across the back line would be an astute transfer target. Ideally, Liverpool needs to make a signing that would make sense regardless of what happens with Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold — not to mention Ibrahima Konate, who is set to enter the last year of his deal shortly.
These three are all world-class players, and the unicorn who could fill in for any one of them at the same elite level does not exist. But it is the job of Goal’s NXGN list to predict the stars of the future, and the latest edition might have reminded Liverpool of one candidate.
Jorrel Hato has already caused a stir in the transfer gossip columns once before, when he was spotted at Anfield back in January. That was seemingly cleared up when he confirmed he was there as a guest of old Ajax friend Ryan Gravenberch.
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But perhaps Gravenberch was putting in some early legwork for Liverpool. Or even if he wasn’t, maybe Slot can now try and leverage that relationship to Liverpool’s advantage.
Because the club is now keeping a close eye on Hato. And rightly so, according to the NXGN list, which places the Ajax player among the top 10 teenage players in the world.
Hato has seemingly settled down into the left-back role at Ajax. That’s the one position in the Liverpool defense where nobody is in imminent danger of walking away on a free transfer, so the fit isn’t immediately obvious.
But disregarding the contract situation for a minute, left-back is probably one of the main areas Slot will have identified from his debut season at Liverpool. Andy Robertson has had his wobbles, and there is no obvious succession plan in place within the club.
And over the course of more than 100 appearances for Ajax (despite only being 19), Hato has also spent extensive time at center-back. Should it be required at any point in the next year or so, he could theoretically become the heir to Van Dijk or Konate.
Yet even if they both stay, as Liverpool will surely hope, then Hato makes sense as the long-term solution at left-back. It’s no wonder, then, that the Reds are at the “front of the queue” along with Arsenal ahead of the summer.
His high placement in the well-respected NXGN list should serve as a reminder to Liverpool. But it’s a prompt Hughes and Slot probably did not need, with Hato already firmly on the transfer radar.
