The current Ajax left-back is the first Ajacied that has played one hundred matches for the club while being eighteen years old. Before Hato, Matthijs de Ligt was the youngest player in the famous Club of 100 at 19 years and 199 days.
By joining the Club of 100, Hato continues his record hunt. During his professional debut against FC Den Bosch in the Dutch Cup, the young defender joined the list of youngest Ajax debutants behind Naci Ünüvar, Clarence Seedorf, and Ryan Gravenberch.
In the same calendar year, he also made his debut for the Dutch national team, making him the second-youngest debutant (after De Ligt) for Oranje after World War II.
Alfred Schreuder gave Hato his debut in Dutch Cup
From all the illustrious lists of the past to the present. How did Hato reach his hundred appearances for Ajax’s first team? Which coaches relied on him the most? And with which Ajax player did he share the field the most?
It was coach Alfred Schreuder who gave Hato his debut in the Dutch Cup. On a rainy January evening in Den Bosch, Ajax won 0-2. Five minutes before the final whistle, Hato came on for Wijndal. The final score had already been decided. It turned out to be his only match under Schreuder.
A little less than a month later, the defender also made his Eredivisie debut in an away game against SC Cambuur: 0-5. By then, John Heitinga had taken over as head coach.
Ultimately, Hato received the most playing time under Ajax’s current head coach, Francesco Farioli. The Italian started him in the lineup 38 times out of 39 matches, resulting in 3,329 minutes under Farioli. Interim coach John van ’t Schip also frequently relied on Hato last year. In the 33 matches he played under Van ’t Schip, he started every time.
Under John Heitinga, Hato had the highest win percentage: 71 percent. He was closely followed by Farioli, with 70 percent. However, it is worth mentioning that Hato has played more than twice as many matches under Farioli compared to Heitinga's tenure.
Given the number of minutes Hato played under Farioli and Van ’t Schip, the conclusion is clear: over the past two seasons, Hato has developed into a key player on the field. Over the past 2.5 years, he has regularly shared the pitch with familiar faces. Of his hundred matches, he played most frequently alongside Kenneth Taylor 96 times. But which other Ajax players have been on the field with Hato the most?
| Jorrel Hato in Ajax 1 |
| Players | Matches |
| Kenneth Taylor | 96 |
| Brian Brobbey | 87 |
| Devyne Rensch | 72 |
| Steven Berghuis | 67 |
| Chuba Akpom | 64 |
In Hato’s hundred matches, he has already accumulated over 8,200 minutes of playing time, which directly implies that he has played the full ninety minutes in many of his games. What’s particularly impressive is that his passing accuracy has never dropped below ninety percent in any season. Even in the current season, Hato maintains a passing accuracy above ninety percent. On average, he has achieved a pass accuracy of 91.5 percent over a hundred matches.
With that remarkable passing accuracy to his name, he has also provided nine assists for goals. Additionally, he has been the goalscorer himself three times. A nice detail: in this season’s top matches against PSV and Feyenoord, he was directly involved in a goal. At De Kuip in Rotterdam, Hato scored from a corner, while against PSV, he delivered a perfect assist to Davy Klaassen.
Interestingly, Klaassen was the goalscorer twice from a Hato assist, making him the only player to have converted multiple chances created by Hato into goals.
Moreover, Ajax's current left-back distributed his matches across the various competitions as follows:
- Eredivisie: 65
- European competitions: 28
- Dutch Cup: 7
Jorrel and Remko
With his hundred appearances for Ajax, Hato has added another fantastic milestone to his résumé. A fun fact: Remko Pasveer could be the next Ajax player to reach the magical milestone of one hundred matches. Including the match against Eintracht Frankfurt, he currently stands at 90 official games. If he reaches the hundred-game mark, he would become the oldest Ajax player to join the Club of 100.
