{"id":202124,"date":"2025-06-21T08:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T08:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/202124\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T08:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T08:58:10","slug":"virgil-van-dijk-gives-glowing-endorsement-for-liverpool-to-sign-the-best-youngster-in-dutch-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/202124\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgil van Dijk gives glowing endorsement for Liverpool to sign ‘the best youngster’ in Dutch football"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liverpool tied up their second signing of the summer on Friday, as Florian Wirtz put pen to paper on a five-year contract.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Reds are steadily getting their business done, with Wirtz joining Jeremie Frimpong as a new arrival at Anfield.<\/p>\n

Milos Kerkez is ready to join Liverpool<\/a> as well, giving Arne Slot new options at right-back, left-back and in attacking midfield.<\/p>\n

But while all three signings are incredibly welcome, there is still more work for Slot and Richard Hughes to do.<\/p>\n

With Jarell Quansah on the verge of joining Bayer Leverkusen<\/a>, it is clear that Liverpool<\/a> need another centre-back.<\/p>\n

Marc Guehi has been linked, but as Rousing The Kop revealed on Friday, Liverpool still want a young centre-back to replace Quansah<\/a>. And according to journalist Lewis Steele, captain Virgil van Dijk<\/a> has already made his choice for who that should be.<\/p>\n

\"JorrelPhoto by Ben Gal\/BSR Agency\/Getty ImagesVirgil van Dijk \u2018absolutely adores\u2019 Jorell Hato<\/p>\n

Given his status as club captain and one of the best centre-backs of all-time, Liverpool would be wise to listen to Van Dijk when it comes to defensive additions.<\/p>\n

And speaking on his YouTube channel on Friday afternoon, Steele claims that if it were up to Van Dijk, he would likely choose the Reds to sign countryman Jorrel Hato<\/a> from Ajax.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiverpool want a young defender who can be at the club for 10 plus years and be the heir to Virgil van Dijk\u2019s throne,\u201d begins the reporter. \u201cIs that man Marc Guehi? I think this is a separate conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne man who is definitely on the list is Jorrel Hato at Ajax. Is he a centre-back? Well he\u2019s played most of his football at left-back but he can play centre-back as well, Liverpool would like that versatility. I wouldn\u2019t fully rule them out of dipping into that market this summer or next.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Three young defenders Liverpool could target to replace Jarell Quansah including \u2018physically strong\u2019 title-winner<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I\u2019ve been told Virgil van Dijk is a huge fan of Hato,\u201d Steele adds. <\/p>\n

\u201cGood sources in Holland tell me he absolutely adores Hato and thinks he\u2019s the best youngster to come out of Holland in a defensive sense for some years. That is one to keep an eye on, maybe this summer, maybe next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liverpool in talks over Hato move<\/p>\n

While Hato has indeed played most of his football at left-back in recent times, this may actually aid his cause in terms of joining Liverpool.<\/p>\n\nSeason<\/td>\nAppearances<\/td>\nGoals<\/td>\nAssists<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2022\/23<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2023\/24<\/td>\n46<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2024\/25<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Jorrel Hato at Ajax<\/p>\n

As RTK revealed earlier this week, Liverpool are unlikely to sell both Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas<\/a> this summer. But if firm offers arrive for both, it cannot be completely ruled out yet.<\/p>\n

In that scenario, the Reds would need some help for Kerkez, and who better than Hato?<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old could also fill in at centre-back where needed, before gradually finding his ideal position.<\/p>\n

Reports this week suggest Liverpool are in talks with Hato<\/a>, so this is clearly one to keep track of. But whether Van Dijk will get his wish is not yet fully clear. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool tied up their second signing of the summer on Friday, as Florian Wirtz put pen to paper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,4861,179,16,15,1465],"class_list":{"0":"post-202124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-jorrel-hato","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-virgil-van-dijk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114720532336661676","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}