Jorginho is the key but ‘Sarri-ball’ needs to get up to speed

IT IS RARE these days for a team to sign a player who their whole strategy will revolve around. But that is what Maurizio Sarri and Chelsea have done.

One of the key factors in Sarri finally arriving at Stamford Bridge three weeks ago from Napoli was that Jorginho came with him.

For Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis it was his way of getting what he thought was value for money – all £57million worth – out of the deal. And for Sarri it was crucial, because he wanted to bring a player to Chelsea who understood how his method of football, the so-called ‘Sarri-ball’, would be implemented.

Jorginho, a key player for the manager at Napoli, was vital to that. The influential, vocal midfielder could be the teacher he would need in the early days.

In fact Sarri wanted to bring more of his old Napoli stars with him – defender Elseid Hysaj and striker Dries Mertens were also on the wish list – but De Laurentiis put the block on that. He was not having his club completely stripped of their assets.

Jorginho managed to change the president’s mind just as Manchester City thought they had clinched a deal for him – and the 26-year-old opted to stay with Sarri, much to City’s annoyance.

Jorginho has played in all of Chelsea’s warm-up games under Sarri. Coveted across Europe, touted in Italy as the next Andrea Pirlo, his reputation could not have been higher.

As he had shown in turning Napoli into title AT WEMBLEY challengers over the last three seasons, much in Sarri’s system revolves around the Brazilianborn Italian international. Sitting deep, tidying up, launching attacks.

Yesterday at Wembley, though, it was all too clear that system needs plenty of work.

To be fair to Sarri and Jorginho, that system has been executed at Chelsea for just over three weeks. But there was a worrying fragility as champions City picked apart the FA Cup winners all too easily in the Wembley sunshine.

In previous fixtures during this rushed pre-season, Jorginho has been calm on the ball, shouting orders, telling his team-mates where to go. But City gave the playmaker no room and swarmed all over Chelsea right from the word go.

It was far too easy to get behind the Chelsea midfield and City, after Sergio Aguero’s early goal, could and should have had more before and after he added a second in the 58th minute.

Clearly, Jorginho is going to need a player with the covering ability of N’Golo Kante alongside him when the going gets serious. Otherwise the goals look like they are going to be flowing in the wrong direction for Sarri.

Jorginho’s mother, Maria Tereza Freitas, was in tears when she saw a Chelsea shirt with her son’s name on it this week. She is the person Jorginho credits with teaching him the game. In the Premier League it looks like there still might be learning to do.

Having attacking players such as Cesc Fabregas and Ross Barkley around him is all very well against poorer opposition. But it leaves Chelsea horribly open.

As ever, there were some neat short-passing moves and one or two incisive forward balls. But too many times Jorginho was caught out of position, even shrugged off the ball.

Yes, Chelsea were playing City, who finished 30 points ahead of them last May and are now two years into the Pep Guardiola experiment. Some slack must be cut.

Sarri said before yesterday’s game he did not know how long it would take his team to get used to his methods. And, of course, Kante, Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, Gary Cahill and Olivier Giroud are still to return to action.

But the murmurs of anxiety from the royal blue end of Wembley yesterday, as several times Willy Caballero prevented City from inflicting a heavier defeat, told their story. Jorginho and Chelsea are a work in progress.

City gave Chelsea’s playmaker no room