Hato has completed his move from Ajax to Chelsea, bolstering our defensive options for the coming campaign.

He leaves his homeland for the first time in his young career, but walks a well-trodden path, with a number of Dutch players having previously represented the Blues.

The very first was never officially registered with the club, as Antonie Effern featured as a wartime guest player for Chelsea after fleeing occupied Europe to England during the Second World War.

Effern scored three goals in as many games, but was forbidden from accepting our contract offer by his commanding officer and promptly reassigned elsewhere, bringing his temporary Blues career to a quick end.

It was nearly 50 years before a Dutchman would next pull on the Chelsea shirt, but there have been 14 to do so since. Keep reading to find out more about them.

Ken Monkou

The first Dutchman to appear for Chelsea in an official competitive fixture was centre-back Monkou, who joined from Feyenoord late in the 1988/89 season and made his debut in a 2-1 win over Stoke City in May.

He went on to make well over 100 appearances for the Blues, as something of a trailblazer, at a time when foreign players were still a rarity. He was also named as Chelsea Player of the Season in 1990, following his first full campaign at Stamford Bridge.

Ruud Gullit

The arrival of Ballon d’Or winner Gullit at Stamford Bridge felt like a breakthrough moment for the club, as some of the biggest names from continental football began to appear in Chelsea blue.

It was the start of a new era of glamour and success in SW6 and before long Ruud was at the helm, replacing Glenn Hoddle as player-manager a year after signing for the Blues. It made him the Premier League’s first-ever Dutch manager.

That meant he was the man who led us out at Wembley when we ended our 26-year wait for silverware by beating Middlesbrough in the 1997 FA Cup final, becoming the first black manager to win a major trophy in English football.

His time at Chelsea came to an end halfway through the following season, but he had played a major role in laying the foundations for future success.

Ed de Goey

The Dutch goalkeeper was signed for Chelsea by his countryman Gullit, becoming at the time the tallest player ever to represent the Blues.

He was our undisputed No.1 for three seasons as we won the League Cup, European Cup Winners’ Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 1998, followed by the FA Cup in 2000.

De Goey was the man between the posts as we reached the quarter-finals in our debut UEFA Champions League campaign, in 1999/00, and also set new club records for overall appearances and clean sheets that season, by shutting out the opposition in 27 of his 59 games.

Mario Melchiot

An attacking full-back, the Amsterdam native joined Chelsea on a free transfer from Ajax in the summer of 1999. Melchiot had to be patient before making his impact, with just a handful of appearances in his debut season, although one of those was in our FA Cup final win over Aston Villa.

His first goal came at Wembley, as we beat Manchester United in the 2000 FA Community Shield, and Melchiot remained our first-choice right-back for the majority of Claudio Ranieri’s tenure as head coach, making 164 appearances during his five years at the club.

Winston Bogarde

The Dutch defender arrived with an impressive CV, with plenty of silverware to his name and spells at Ajax, AC Milan and Barcelona. However, it was not a deal which worked out, making just 12 appearances – only four of them from the start – in four years before retiring at the end of his contract.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

Hasselbaink goes down in history as one of the most effective and also most-loved strikers Chelsea have ever fielded. He was our record signing from Atletico Madrid in 2000 and wasted no time, scoring on his debut against West Ham United.

Jimmy would net an impressive 87 goals in his four seasons at Stamford Bridge, earning two Premier League Golden Boot awards and creating some fantastic memories in the process.

His perfect hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur in 2002 guaranteed he would always have a place in supporters’ hearts, as did his larger than life personality on the pitch, all added to by his thunderous right foot and habit of producing the spectacular.

Boudewijn Zenden

After arriving from Barcelona, Zenden made 59 appearances over his two seasons at Stamford Bridge, including as a substitute in the 2002 FA Cup final.

He would later return to the Blues briefly as assistant coach to Rafael Benitez in 2013, helping us to triumph in that year’s Europa League.

Arjen Robben

Robben arrived as a young winger at the start of the 2004/05 season, although his debut was delayed by injury, something which would hamper him throughout his time here.

When fit, though, he was a crucial part of the side which won Chelsea’s first top-flight title for 50 years, in his first season at the Bridge. After announcing himself with four goals in as many games in November, he then got a crucial winner against Blackburn Rovers as we closed in on the trophy.

We successfully defended the title in 2005/06 in arguably Robben’s most injury-free season at Chelsea, the winger playing an important part again, but those issues returned the following year.

He still managed to come on to set up the winner in the 2007 League Cup final and started our FA Cup final victory over Manchester United, the latter his last game for the club.

Khalid Boulahrouz

The defender made 24 appearances during his one season at Stamford Bridge, but breaking up the central partnership between John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho was always going to be a tall order, meaning he also featured at right-back. With injuries also reducing his playing time, Boulahrouz didn’t feature in our 2007 League Cup or FA Cup final wins, before leaving on loan to Sevilla the following season and then Stuttgart permanently.

Jeffrey Bruma

Bruma joined Chelsea’s Academy after leaving hometown club Feyenoord and featured regularly in the FA Youth Cup while still a schoolboy. His senior debut came against Blackburn in October 2009, shortly before his 18th birthday, making two Premier League appearances in that Double-winning campaign.

He joined the senior squad full-time under Carlo Ancelotti, but also featured for our Academy, scoring against Aston Villa in the Youth Cup final as we won that competition for the first time in 49 years.

The rest of his time with the Blues was spent out on loan, before departing for PSV Eindhoven in 2013.

Patrick van Aanholt

The left-back is another to join Chelsea at a young age, the same summer as Bruma, and his first two appearances also came in our triumphant 2009/10 Premier League campaign, in big wins over Portsmouth and Aston Villa.

Van Aanholt opened the scoring on his first start, against Newcastle United in the League Cup the following season, but it would be his only goal before departing on loan and eventually leaving permanently for Sunderland in 2014.

Nathan Ake

Ake still plays in the Premier League with Manchester City, but originally came to England as a young Chelsea defender, joining our Academy in 2010.

The first of his 17 senior appearances for the Blues came as a late substitute in a 1-0 win over Norwich City in December 2012. He made his first start later that season, which ended with him being on the bench for our 2013 Europa League final victory in Amsterdam and being named Chelsea’s Young Player of the Year.

His final appearance came from the start on the left side of Antonio Conte’s back three, when we beat Tottenham 4-2 at Wembley in the 2016/17 FA Cup semi-finals, before ending the season as Premier League champions.

Marco van Ginkel

After signing as a promising youngster, serious knee injury hampered Van Ginkel throughout his time at Chelsea, requiring a long period out of action recovering from surgery.

All four of his Blues appearances came early in the 2013/14 season, before that injury suffered in a League Cup tie with Swindon Town, although he did briefly return to be named on the bench for both legs of our Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid later in the campaign.

He left to join PSV Eindhoven permanently in 2021, after captaining them to the Eredivisie title on loan.

Ian Maatsen

The most recent Dutchman to represent Chelsea, at least until Hato makes his debut, was wing-back Maatsen.

He joined the Chelsea Academy from PSV Eindhoven in 2018 and made his senior debut for the Blues a year later, coming off the bench during a 7-1 League Cup win over Grimsby Town in September 2019.

Following successful Football League loans, Maatsen returned to the Bridge to make 15 appearances in the first half of the 2023/24 season, before another loan at Borussia Dortmund and moving permanently to Aston Villa last summer.