Virgil van Dijk CHOOSES new defensive partner

On Sunday Liverpool were confirmed as Premier League champions, and preparations are already being made to aid the Reds’ title defence.

The approaching summer transfer window is set to be one of the biggest in the club’s history, and a number of positions are due to be addressed.

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Arne Slot’s side are clearly in the hunt for a new striker, with both Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota expected to leave the club, as exclusively revealed by Anfield Watch earlier this year.

Beyond the no.9 spot, it is a little harder to tell where Liverpool will do their business, but there is a general feeling that a new left-back will be bought in this summer too.

A whole host of names have been linked with a Merseyside switch to bolster the left side of the Reds’ defence, but Virgil van Dijk now appears to have picked his favourite.

Van Dijk choses his new defensive partner

One of the names that has appeared most frequently in the left-back discussion around Liverpool is Ajax’s Jorrel Hato.

The 19-year-old has impressed this season, and will reportedly be available for around £40 million in the summer.

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Hato, who has made 47 appearances for Ajax this campaign, is also capable of being deployed in the centre of the defence, but he has been used exclusively on the left this season.

The youngster has already earned six caps for the Netherlands, where he will have no doubt struck up a relationship with Liverpool skipper Van Dijk.

Now, a new report from MailOnline has confirmed that, despite talk of Hato joining Liverpool having cooled recently, Virgil is ‘said to be a big fan’ of the defender.

How likely is Hato to Liverpool?

The 19-year-old was spotted at Anfield earlier in the season, which supercharged rumours that he was Merseyside bound.

Since then, Liverpool have been linked with a number of other players in Hato’s position including Antonee Robinson, Miguel Gutierrez and Rayan Ait-Nouri.

The front-runner does appear to be Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez, however. Anfield Watch exclusively revealed before Christmas that the club had begun talks with the Hungarian fullback.

There won’t be much difference in price between Kerkez and Hato and, although the former is the front-runner, it would be naive to rule out Hato making the switch to Merseyside.

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Only time will tell which left-back Liverpool bring in, if any, but it appears that Jorrel Hato would be Van Dijk’s favourite.