Erik ten Hag has praised Chelsea for signing Jorrel Hato and has backed the Dutch defender to become a ‘very successful player’ at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea sealed a £37 million deal to sign Hato from Ajax last weekend and the 19-year-old made his first appearance for Enzo Maresca’s side in their 2-0 pre-season friendly win against Bayer Leverkusen at Stamford Bridge on Friday night.
Hato already has six caps for the Netherlands and is widely regarded as one of the best young prospects in Dutch football.
Former Ajax head coach Erik ten Hag, who now manages Leverkusen, believes Hato was the best player in the Eredivisie and insists the defender has the right mentality to thrive at Chelsea.
‘For sure, he misses me at Ajax because they didn’t win the titles in the last couple of years! But the moment I left he came in he developed and progressed so good that now Chelsea picked him up,’ Ten Hag said.
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‘For sure he was one of the best, or maybe the best player, in the Eredivisie.
‘He’s so young but already on a very high level. I’m very sure he will succeed at Chelsea.
‘You need some time but he has a very good mentality and then he can progress really quickly because he has the potential because he has all the elements in his game to prove he can be a very successful player.’
Asked if he views Hato more as a centre-back than a left-back, Ten Hag replied: ‘He can do both. You will see he is capable of doing both.
‘I congratulate Chelsea by signing this great player.’
When asked if he believes Chelsea are capable of winning the Premier League this season, Ten Hag said: ‘I think so.
‘You always have to see how the season develops and there is a lot about injuries, but they have a big squad.
‘All the teams you see they invest so much in the Premier League in this transfer window. There are many teams who can, in this moment, construct a very good team, then it’s about who is in the right shape, who is in the right direction.
‘It is very difficult to say in this moment who is favourite because I think five or six in this moment are able to win the league.’
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