Liverpool Transfer News: PHENOMENAL wonderkid is one-of-a-kind

Liverpool are eyeing up one of the brightest prospects on in European football. He's now set a truly incredible record, too.

Liverpool will almost certainly buy at least one new defender this summer. Of course, how many depends on who actually stays with the club.

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Both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk are out of contract in the summer. It feels quite likely that at least one leaves at this point, given neither have signed new deals by now.

Just one departure would necessitate a major signing. Two? Liverpool would need to try and do something special to rejuvenate their defence.

There are doubts over the futures of Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate, however. The latter enters the final year of his own contract in July and Liverpool face a fight to keep him.

Then there's left-back. It's thought that Liverpool will move to replace Kostas Tsimikas this summer, bringing in both competition and a long-term successor to Andy Robertson.

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Several players have been mentioned as targets, of course. The likes of Milos Kerkez and Lewis Hall are up there as top options.

Anfield Watch exclusively revealed initial talks over Kerkez back in November, while we shared the interest in Hall very recently.

But there might be one left-back who's an even more tempting option, all things considered.

Jorrel Hato and Liverpool

We're seeing more and more links between Ajax prodigy Jorrel Hato and Liverpool. The teenager is making a serious name for himself - and it's earning a place on Anfield's shortlist.

Here's everything you need to know about that interest and what Hato could mean for Liverpool.

Underlining Hato's ability is a new record he's set at Ajax. The Dutch giants are, of course, one of the greatest developers of young talent in world football.

Liverpool know that well. Ryan Gravenberch is one of their greatest young talents in recent times and he's currently bossing the midfield at Anfield.

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But Hato is now doing things that no talent has done before him. He's now the youngest Ajax player to reach 100 appearances for the club.

That breaks the record held by Matthijs de Ligt, with Hato only turning 19 on Friday. It's an absolutely remarkable achievement and shows just how experienced he is despite his age.

Hato has established himself immediately at Ajax, from being the club's fourth-youngest to play in the Eredivisie (Gravenberch is the youngest, by the way) to playing 33 league games last season, to reaching no.100 in all competitions.

Liverpool could snap-up one of the brightest talents around here. A defender who can play both left-back and centre-back, with plenty of top-flight experience while also carrying an incredible amount of promise and potential.

After all, Hato plays in positions where players almost always improve with age. As the Reds search for Robertson's long-term successor, they may not do any better.

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