Who Is Jorrel Hato?
Finding new talent at Ajax used to be a given; the Dutch titan’s footballing academy has been among the most prominent places for the next big things in the sport for years.
However, even the top franchises experience bad times.
Ajax was no different, and even De Godenzonen were not spared.
But football often works in cycles; if you were once on top, you’ll likely get there again eventually.
For all their ups and downs, Ajax still have talent production well in hand.
The proof is Jorrel Hato, the 18-year-old prodigy climbing the ranks of Dutch football and already attracting Premier League giants such as Arsenal.
So, who exactly is Jorrel Hato, and how good is he?
This tactical analysis will provide you with a full Jorrel Hato’s scout report, using data analysis to provide you with an in-depth Jorrel Hato’s player profile that highlights his strengths and weaknesses, describing how he complements Ajax’s tactics.
Jorrel Hato Style Of Play
The 18-year-old Dutch centre-back is currently playing for Ajax in the Eredivisie.
Standing at 183cm and weighing 76kg, the young defender has a stocky build with an excellent duelling frame, albeit one that he is still very much growing into.
He’s a left-footer and is also mostly deployed on the left side of the pitch, either slotting in as the left centre-back or even a left-back at times.
In the current season, Hato has played just under 1000 minutes across all competitions, including the domestic league and UEFA Europa League.
However, since the data is relatively scarce, we’ve decided to use his 2023/24 campaign for some of our analysis, which ultimately gave us a bigger sample to dissect.
Jorrel Hato Radar Map At Ajax
Looking at his profile from last season, we can immediately see some of Jorrel Hato’s main strengths through the lens of statistical analysis; he’s a player very comfortable on the ball as he’s both used to volume receiving and distribution of passes.
Both of these categories, as well as his passing accuracy, put him in the top 25% of Eredivisie left centre-backs.
For a possession-heavy side, this is an obvious requirement.
However, Hato is also quite adventurous and brave; the 94th percentile ranking for dribbling suggests that the 18-year-old breaks the lines of pressure through running, even more so than through passing, and this can be a valuable tool across the phases of attacking play.
Similarly, while he’s not a shooter or someone who tallies touches in the opposition’s box often, he still contributes to Ajax’s overall goal-scoring.
Defensively, we’re talking about a player who reads the game well and utilises his physical attributes in duels, counter-pressing, and tracking back.
Specific blemishes may yet need polishing before he’s ready to rise to stardom.
Jorrel Hato In Possession
We already touched upon his strengths in possession in the opening section of this Jorrel Hato scout report, but seeing how he’s already accumulating fame for exactly those attributes, it makes for a great place to start.
Positionally, we are talking about a player who starts deep but often finds himself in the advanced areas of the pitch as the attacking play develops.
This is clearly visible in the following heatmap and touch map for his 2024/25 and 2023/24 seasons, respectively.
Jorrel Hato Touch Map & Heat Map
We’ve included both to highlight that he is still being used the same way in the new season despite the drastically smaller sample.
The touch map is better suited for instances where there aren’t many actions to analyse, while the heat map works better with a larger sample, as it can provide a view of the more and less frequented areas.
As can be seen in the graphs, Jorrel Hato spends a significant amount of time in the attacking third once the opponent has been pinned down; this is where both his defensive and offensive attributes come to light.
However, as evidenced by the graphs and the data itself, he is often a conductor or even a deep creator from the first phase.
In the current 2024/25 campaign, the 18-year-old is averaging 46.8 passes per 90 minutes with 84.6% accuracy, which is good enough to rank him 11th in the league among his peers for sheer volume.
This once again emphasises his comfort with being the foundation of Ajax’s build-up phase, receiving and deploying a lot of passes per game.
However, if we look at just the progressive passing, we see that this is not his primary role.
Jorrel Hato Passes & Progressive Passes Map
We’ve used his 2024/25 stats for this part of the tactical analysis simply because they are easier to read at this point in the campaign.
But even if the sample was bigger, the volume would still remain on the lower end.
Simply put, Hato is a recycler in the first phase when it comes to passing, and any progression that happens is usually done with a long pass directly into the final third.
That said, the data suggests that he has been quite proficient so far, tallying 9.9 progressive passes per 90, which is good enough to rank him sixth in the league among lateral defenders.
However, that stat is also flawed because he has only played 196 minutes, somewhat skewing the findings.
One thing that is a constant, however, is his distribution.
The 18-year-old efficiently identifies and immediately exploits the space with his long passes, often accessing the final third with a simple ball over the top.
Interestingly, this is obviously a good progression tool as it quickly moves the play forward, but in Hato’s case, it’s also a clear chance-creation tool, explaining why his goal-contribution numbers for the 2023/24 season were so high, especially for a centre-back.
With one goal and one assist throughout that season, the bar was obviously not as high, but only two games and 196 minutes into the 2024/25 campaign, the Dutch youngster already has one goal and two assists to his name.
That could be the start of something special for the 18-year-old.
Two other attributes we have to mention alongside his chance creation are progressive runs and deep completions, both of which are prominent weapons in his arsenal.
Jorrel Hato is excellent at breaking the opposition’s pressure with dribbles and then continuing the run high into enemy territory.
His dribble locations and their respective distances are covered in the following graphs.
Jorrel Hato Dribbles & Penetrating Carries Map
We must note the starting and ending positions; Hato starts his dribbles deep in the first line but often ends them inside the final third.
From there, he can either link up with his closest teammates or, as is the case quite often, try to create a threat himself through incisive passing.
Wyscout defines a deep completion as a pass (excluding crosses) received in a 20-metre radius from the opponent’s goal line.
Hato is currently the lateral defender with the most such passes deployed in the league, tallying an impressive 5.4 per 90.
These deep completions are often deployed at the end of a penetrative progressive run, which puts the 18-year-old in danger zones.
From here, he can deploy them more easily.
We can see an example of this in the following sequence.
Note how it starts deep, continues as he beats multiple markers, and ends with a pinpoint pass into the box and the feet of his teammate.
Naturally, this isn’t something he does every game or even very often, but it’s a good representation of his ceiling if he continues developing.
Hato is extremely comfortable with the ball at his feet, and much of this is owed to his reading of the game and maturity in possession.
Although he is a defender first and foremost, the other side of his profile is equally, if not even greater, important to the team’s tactics.
Let’s explore that in the next section of our scout report.
Jorrel Hato Out Of Possession
Jorrel Hato is an impressive defender in his own right, especially considering he’s only 18 years of age.
However, while certain a boost in his hunger, work rate and the need to prove himself, that youth also means he’s still growing into his frame and learning how to manipulate it properly.
This is best seen in some 1v1 duels or when having to reposition and/or maintain full focus when having to cover for his teammates.
Looking at Hato’s defensive coverage and high regains from last season, we can get a glimpse of his overall defensive profile.
Jorrel Hato Defensive Territory & High Regains Map
Interestingly, Hato likes to push up to press and follow his markers deep into enemy territory.
This can be beneficial when his timing and anticipation are good, but it can also be risky if those two things are not perfectly aligned.
Considering we’re still talking about a young and largely inexperienced player, these moves can be exploited by the opposition.
That said, the 18-year-old can physically get himself out of a sticky situation.
He’s stocky, which helps his duelling capacity.
The Dutch youngster also exhibits good acceleration over short to medium distances, particularly from a standstill position.
As such, we can discuss a potent pressing and especially counter-pressing tool.
This ability is nicely complemented by Hato’s reading of the game, especially when it comes to blocking shots in some of the most crucial defensive areas of the pitch.
In this sequence, we see all of these things in action; Hato reads the play well and recognises where the opposition attack is going to go next.
Then, the 18-year-old bursts from a standstill position and times his run to intercept the ball and stop the action from advancing.
Defensively, this is where Ajax get the most out of his profile, but naturally, this type of defending extends into more advanced territory with more aggressive actions.
Looking at some of the previous graphs in this tactical analysis, we can see that Hato spends a significant amount of time high up the pitch, both offensively and defensively.
The Dutch youngster is often found in advanced areas, both on and off the ball.
The latter is due primarily to his pressing when he sticks to his marker frequently and also to his counter-pressing as the player in the outer ring of Ajax’s best defence.
For that reason, we can find Jorrel Hato in situations you can observe in this latest sequence of play.
The young 18-year-old is often the one tracking back or facing wingers in isolated wide duels, but he is also often in a situation where he has to make a tackle from behind due to his initial positioning during a counter-press.
Naturally, it is admirable that one is willing and able to offer such a service while also actively participating in the team’s attacking structure.
Especially for a player whose stocks seem to be on the rise.
Overall, despite some of his blunders in body shape when facing those duels and lapses of concentration, Hato’s duelling seems decent but still slightly lacking overall.
The following graphs illustrate his performance in key defensive areas, both on the ground and in the air.
One of those, however, is clearly better than the other.
Jorrel Hato Duels Maps
When we do the math, it seems that Jorrel Hato has so far won 46/85 of his duels on the left flank (54%), 33/53 duels in zone 14 (62%), 21/38 duels in the penalty area (55%) and 3/3 on the right flank (100%).
While these numbers are not bad, they also show there’s a lot of room for improvement, especially considering those lost duels have already caused six goals from 3.51 xG.
But things get even worse when we consider his aerial (in)ability.
With just 29/62 aerial duels won (46.8%), Hato seems a liability in the air for now, and the opposition could be looking to exploit this particular flaw in his player profile.
This is particularly poor inside the penalty area, where his success rate stands at a low 37.1%.
Conclusion
Jorrel Hato is a hot new prospect in the Dutch school of football, and his stocks are indeed rising rapidly.
His in-possession value is already high, and he is doing quite well under the pressure of volume, progression via runs, and even chance creation.
However, defensively, while he’s physically improving, the 18-year-old still needs to control his frame better and translate his excellent reading of the game into better duelling, especially in the air.
Once that is ironed out and improved upon, he’ll be ready to make a proper stamp in Europe.
