The Blues paid an initial transfer fee of £35.5m plus add-ons to capture the services of Hato.

The 19-year-old then committed his future to the club after signing a seven-year contract at Stamford Bridge.

Hato has spent his entire career at Ajax and has featured 161 for the Dutch giants, while scoring seven goals and grabbing 11 assists in the process.

“It feels strange to leave everybody in Holland, of course, but for me it’s a new journey with new people in a new culture, a new team, new competitions,” Hato told his club’s official website.

“I was really thinking about my future and this is what I wanted. I think I will be a good fit for the way Chelsea are playing, so I was sure about taking my step to Chelsea.

“For sure it was a big decision. I played seven years at Ajax and for me it was home – the people, the players, the coaches, the culture.

“So it was not easy to leave, but my feeling was that at this moment I needed to make a step to the biggest club in the biggest competitions, and for me this was the right decision at the right time.”

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The 33-year-old player, who had almost 500 games for Liverpool, joined Al-Ettifaq in July and is said to be making up to £700,000 ($887,000) a week.

“We wanted an experienced midfielder with leadership qualities… Jordan Henderson is that type of player,” said Ajax coach John van ‘t Schip in a statement.

“His arrival means a huge enhancement for our squad. Both on and off the pitch, a football player of this calibre is important for our many young players,” he added.

Steven Gerrard coaches the Saudi club Al-Ettifaq. Henderson took over as Liverpool captain from Gerrard in 2015 and is now coaching the club.

Vice Chairman and interim CEO of the SPL, Saad Allazeez, said that the deal was good for everyone and would solve the problem.

“Sometimes despite best efforts people don’t always adjust or settle,” said Allazeez.

“Everyone tried and no one is to blame,” he added.

But Henderson’s move to Saudi Arabia, where being gay is illegal, led to accusations of hypocrisy because he is known to support the LGBT+ community.

Pride in Football, a network of LGBT+ fan groups, said at the time: “When you see someone who has been an ally so publicly transfer to a club in a country where LGBT+ people are attacked and imprisoned, it is disappointing.”

“Good luck in Saudi Arabia Jordan, but you have lost the respect of so many people who valued you and trusted you.”

Thomas Hitzlsperger, a midfielder who used to play for Aston Villa and Stuttgart and came out as gay in 2014, also spoke out against the move.

“I did believe for a while that his support for the community would be genuine. Silly me…” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He said that the criticism hurt him and said he was sorry if the gay community thought he was ignoring them.

When asked about his well-known views, he said that being in Saudi Arabia “is only a positive thing.”

Reports about his pay were also wrong, and he said that the money wasn’t what drove him.

He instead said that he didn’t feel “wanted” by Liverpool because they had changed their midfield and he was looking for a new challenge.

People often say that Saudi Arabia’s huge spending on sports is “sportswashing,” which means that the country is trying to hide its bad human rights record.

Henderson, who has 81 caps for England, was one of many football stars who were enticed to play in the Saudi league, where players and coaches are paid ridiculously high wages.

Some players, like Karim Benzema of France, Neymar of Brazil, and Sadio Mane of Senegal, have followed Cristiano Ronaldo’s lead and played for Saudi clubs.

People often say that the world’s biggest oil exporter is “sportswashing” its human rights record because it spends so much money on sports events like Formula One in Jeddah and the lucrative LIV Golf Tour.

Man City manager Pep Guardiola has said that the Saudi league has “completely changed the market” for football players, and he thinks that more famous players will move there.

Henderson will help the Dutch team get back on track after having the worst start in their history, which put them at the bottom of the Eredivisie for a short time.

This season has been terrible for Ajax. In December, they lost the cup to an amateur team called Hercules by a score of 3-2.

The hercules loss was called “the greatest debacle in the history of Ajax” by Fabian Nagtzaam, who is in charge of the club’s supporters association. Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, and Dennis Bergkamp all played for Ajax.

Ajax has been around since 1900 and has won 36 league titles, 20 KNVB Cups, and four European championships. They are by far the most successful club in the Netherlands.

Maurice Steijn was fired as coach in October because the team had such a bad run of form. van ‘t Schip was then brought in as an interim boss.

Even though they fought back to fifth place, they are still 23 points behind the leaders and bitter rivals PSV Eindhoven.

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It’s the Seagulls’ first time playing at this level of football, and they lost their first game in Group B at home to AEK Athens. They then tied at Marseille.

But on a famous night at Amex Stadium, they beat European veterans Ajax thanks to goals from Joao Pedro and Ansu Fati.

Bob de Zerbi, Brighton’s manager, told TNT Sports, “We got our first win in Europe.”

“It is a great day for our fans, our club, our owner and we are very proud to give them this day.”

Just before halftime, Pedro scored his fourth goal in the Europa League by driving in a loose ball after Kaoru Mitoma’s great shot was saved by Diant Ramaj in goal for Ajax.

After the break, things got even better when Brighton scored a beautiful second goal. Simon Adingra played a beautiful pass to Fati, who took two touches inside the box and then put the ball into the corner of the net.

As Steven Berghuis hit the post for Ajax, he reminded Brighton not to let their guard down. It was one of the visitors’ few chances, though, as the Seagulls won easily in the end.

Fans of Brighton will always remember these times.

In 1994–95, Ajax won their fourth European Cup. At the same time, Brighton had just finished their 16th season in the third level of English football.

The fact that the Seagulls are playing such famous teams at a tough time in their history shows how far they’ve come in recent years. On Thursday, the stadium was packed with fans for what was without a doubt the hottest ticket in town.

Fans were told to wave their scarves in the air before the game, which made for a great atmosphere. But once the game started, they had to be patient.

Ajax, who are second-to-last in the Eredivisie after having the worst start to a season in their history, sat deep to make their opponents frustrated. It almost worked until Mitoma’s magic moment gave them the lead.

Brighton got past the crowded defence before the Japanese forward cut inside and hit a hard shot that was blocked and went in for Pedro to score.

The home team became more confident after that, and Fati’s great goal in the second half gave Brighton fans reason to be proud of this historic moment.

Photo by EPA/VINCE MIGNOTT

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The 22-year-old defender was an important part of the Ajax team. He played in 121 games for the senior team in all competitions and won two league titles and a Dutch Cup with the Amsterdam side.

In 2014, Jurrien and his twin brother Quinten both joined the Ajax youth programme. Quinten now plays for Feyenoord in the Eredivisie.

The versatile player signed his first professional contract with Ajax in 2018. In March 2020, he played in his first game for the first team and won 3-1 against SC Heerenveen.

Jurrien was on the Netherlands team for both the UEFA Euro 2020 and the FIFA World Cup 2022. He made his first start for the national team in June 2021, in a friendly against Scotland that ended in a tie.

Sporting Director Edu said: “We are very happy to bring Jurrien to Arsenal. He is a player that we have admired for a long time, so it’s a credit to everyone in our team that made this happen.

“Jurrien is a young talented international player, who fits our vision of competing with a young strong squad. I know Jurrien cannot wait to get started and we’re really hoping that he will be a great success here for many years.”

⚠️ It’s Time to BeReal ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/CDRAEriSxh

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 14, 2023

Manager Mikel Arteta added: “We’re really excited that Jurrien has joined us. He is a versatile young defender, who will fit into our system and provide our squad with so much added quality.

“Jurrien is a young player, but has already achieved so much. He has experienced what it’s like to go to a major international tournament on more than one occasion, as well as the trophies he has won with Ajax. We look forward to welcoming and integrating Jurrien into the squad.”

The Arsenal family continues to grow ❤️ pic.twitter.com/VovE3Zt24J

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 14, 2023

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Barca didn’t make it out of the group stage of the Champions League and will play in the Europa League for the second season in a row. United, meanwhile, finished second in their Europa League group.

The last time these two clubs played each other was in the quarterfinals of the Champions League in 2018–19. Barca won 4-0 overall.

They have played each other in the finals of the Champions League twice and the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1991, but this will be the first time they have met in the Europa League.

The winners of the eight play-off games in the knockout round will move on to the last 16. The eight Europa League group winners automatically made it to the last 16.

After dropping out of Europe’s top club competition, Juventus will play French club Nantes in a rematch of the Champions League semi-final that the Italians won in 1996.

Sevilla will play PSV Eindhoven. Sevilla has won the Europa League or its predecessor, the UEFA Cup, a record six times.

Union Berlin, a top team in the Bundesliga, will play Ajax, while Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine will play Rennes of France.

Bayer Leverkusen will play Monaco, and Red Bull Salzburg will face Jose Mourinho’s Roma.

Premier League leaders Arsenal, Real Betis, Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium, Real Sociedad, Feyenoord, Freiburg, and Ferencvaros have already made it to the round of 16.

The Europa League final for this season will be held in Budapest on May 31, next year.

Europa League knockout round play-offs draw:

Barcelona (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG)

Juventus (ITA) v Nantes (FRA)

Sporting (POR) v Midtjylland (DEN)

Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) v Rennes (FRA)

Ajax (NED) v Union Berlin (GER)

Bayer Leverkusen (GER) v Monaco (FRA)

Sevilla (ESP) v PSV Eindhoven (NED)

Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) v Roma (ITA)

Photo by EPA/TONI ALBIR

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AFC Ajax 0-3 Liverpool

Liverpool progressed to the last 16 of the Champions League after they cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Ajax through goals from Harvey Elliott, Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah at the Amsterdam ArenA.

This Harvey Elliott goal is absolute quality!

Incredible strike 🤩

📺 Stream #UCL live: https://t.co/Tg69y0m5GD pic.twitter.com/dt9KGenZGb

— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) October 26, 2022

Atletico Madrid 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen

Atletico Madrid crashed out of the Champions League following a dramatic 2-2 home draw with Bayer Leverkusen after Yannick Carrasco missed a penalty awarded by VAR after the final whistle was initially blown.

Not what Atletico need in a must win encounter 😶

Leverkusen lead at the Metropolitano 👀

📺 Stream #UCL live: https://t.co/Tg69y0m5GD pic.twitter.com/5qmn3CJ1Lo

— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) October 26, 2022

Barcelona 0-3 Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich clinched the top spot in Group C with a comfortable 3-0 win to eliminate Barcelona after goals by Benjamin Pavard, Eric Choupo-Moting and Sadio Mané at Camp Nou.

The post UCL wrap: Liverpool into last 16 as Barcelona exit appeared first on SportsClub.

There was also a surprise defeat for Tottenham Hotspur at Sporting Lisbon, and Atletico Madrid were beaten on their trip to play Bayer Leverkusen.

Both Spanish visitors to Germany came away on the losing side, with Barcelona going down 2-0 at the Allianz Arena in Group C as Lewandowski came back to the club he left in the summer after eight prolific seasons in Bavaria.

The Pole scored a hat-trick on his Champions League debut for Barca as the Catalans beat Viktoria Plzen 5-1 last week.

He was desperately close to opening the scoring in the first half in Munich, but it was Bayern who went in front five minutes into the second half when Lucas Hernandez headed in from a corner.

Leroy Sane burst through four minutes later to make it 2-0 as Julian Nagelsmann’s Bayern made it two wins out of two in the group.

They have now won their last five meetings with Barcelona, including two in last season’s group stage and their 8-2 victory in the 2020 quarter-finals.

“I think for ‘Lewy’ it was really an emotional game to come back — a little bit like coming home, because he was so successful here,” Bayern captain Manuel Neuer told Amazon Prime of his old teammate.

“The luck in the decisive moments wasn’t on his side — and that became our luck.”

Highlights:

Reactions:

Barcelona next face Inter Milan, who got their first points with a 2-0 win away to Plzen in the Czech Republic.

Edin Dzeko and Denzel Dumfries got the goals for Inter while the home side had Pavel Bucha sent off in the second half.

Highlights:

Matip the hero

Liverpool got off to a disastrous start in Group A when they lost 4-1 to Napoli in Italy, but they bounced back from that to beat Ajax 2-1 at Anfield.

Mohamed Salah shook off a poor run of form to put Jurgen Klopp’s side ahead in the 17th minute, only for the Dutch champions to equalise before the half-hour courtesy of an emphatic finish from their thrilling Ghanaian talent Mohammed Kudus.

Liverpool were heading for a third game without a win in all competitions until Matip rose in front of the Kop to head in from a corner in the 89th minute, the ball crossing the line before it could be cleared out.

“I think everybody could see that we understood and that we had to put a completely different shift into the game. The boys did that,” Klopp told BT Sport.

“We played a lot of good stuff against a hard fighting opposition.”

That match was preceded by a minute’s silence to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The other game in Group A, between Rangers and Napoli, was postponed until Wednesday due to severe limitations on police resources in Scotland as a result of the Queen’s death.

Highlights:

Reactions:

Spurs shocked

Meanwhile, Antonio Conte’s Spurs slumped to a 2-0 defeat by Sporting in Portugal in Group D, with the home side scoring both goals late on at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.

It looked like the English side would escape with a point after Hugo Lloris produced a stunning late save to deny Pedro Porro.

But Paulinho headed in from the resulting 90th-minute corner, and Brazilian Arthur Gomes came off the bench to make it 2-0 with a superb solo strike in injury time.

“It was a difficult result. When you lose the game you are not happy,” admitted Conte.

Sporting top the group with six points, while Eintracht Frankfurt joined Spurs on three points thanks to a 1-0 win in Marseille, with Jesper Lindstrom scoring in the first half.

Highlights:

Leverkusen claimed their first points in Group B as they beat Atletico 2-0 with two late goals, Robert Andrich and Moussa Diaby both finding the net.

Highlights:

Belgian champions Club Brugge top the section with six points after a stunning 4-0 win at FC Porto.

Former Barcelona striker Ferran Jutgla opened the scoring with a penalty before Kamal Sowah, Andreas Skov Olsen and Norwegian teenager Antonio Nusa all netted in the second half.

Highlights:

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There was also a surprise defeat for Tottenham Hotspur at Sporting Lisbon, and Atletico Madrid were beaten on their trip to play Bayer Leverkusen.

Both Spanish visitors to Germany came away on the losing side, with Barcelona going down 2-0 at the Allianz Arena in Group C as Lewandowski came back to the club he left in the summer after eight prolific seasons in Bavaria.

The Pole scored a hat-trick on his Champions League debut for Barca as the Catalans beat Viktoria Plzen 5-1 last week.

He was desperately close to opening the scoring in the first half in Munich, but it was Bayern who went in front five minutes into the second half when Lucas Hernandez headed in from a corner.

Leroy Sane burst through four minutes later to make it 2-0 as Julian Nagelsmann’s Bayern made it two wins out of two in the group.

They have now won their last five meetings with Barcelona, including two in last season’s group stage and their 8-2 victory in the 2020 quarter-finals.

Barcelona next face Inter Milan, who got their first points with a 2-0 win away to Plzen in the Czech Republic.

Edin Dzeko and Denzel Dumfries got the goals for Inter while the home side had Pavel Bucha sent off in the second half.

– Matip the hero –

Liverpool got off to a disastrous start in Group A when they lost 4-1 to Napoli in Italy, but they bounced back from that to beat Ajax 2-1 at Anfield.

Mohamed Salah shook off a poor run of form to put Jurgen Klopp’s side ahead in the 17th minute, only for the Dutch champions to equalise before the half-hour courtesy of an emphatic finish from their thrilling Ghanaian talent Mohammed Kudus.

Liverpool were heading for a third game without a win in all competitions until Matip rose in front of the Kop to head in from a corner in the 89th minute, the ball crossing the line before it could be cleared out.

That match was preceded by a minute’s silence to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The other game in Group A, between Rangers and Napoli, was postponed until Wednesday due to severe limitations on police resources in Scotland as a result of the Queen’s death.

– Spurs shocked –

Meanwhile Antonio Conte’s Spurs slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Sporting in Portugal in Group D, with the home side scoring both goals late on at the Jose Alvalade stadium.

It looked like the English side would escape with a point after Hugo Lloris produced a stunning late save to deny Pedro Porro.

But Paulinho headed in from the resulting 90th-minute corner, and Brazilian Arthur Gomes came off the bench to make it 2-0 with a superb solo strike in injury time.

Sporting top the group with six points, while Eintracht Frankfurt joined Spurs on three points thanks to a 1-0 win in Marseille, with Jesper Lindstrom scoring in the first half.

Leverkusen claimed their first points in Group B as they beat Atletico 2-0 with two late goals, Robert Andrich and Moussa Diaby both finding the net.

Belgian champions Club Brugge top the section with six points after a stunning 4-0 win at FC Porto.

Former Barcelona striker Ferran Jutgla opened the scoring with a penalty before Kamal Sowah, Andreas Skov Olsen and Norwegian teenager Antonio Nusa all netted in the second half.

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