City are still in pole position to sign Italian star
CITY remain in prime position for Jorginho despite negotiations taking their time.
The Italian midfielder has been identified as a key summer target as Pep Guardiola looks to fill the immediate hole left by Yaya Toure’s departure and find a long-term successor to Fernandinho.
The 26-year-old, an integral part of the team built by Maurizio Sarri that earned such praise from the City coach when the teams were drawn together in the Champions League, has expressed a desire to work with Guardiola and agreeing personal terms is not expected to be a problem.
However, a deal with Napoli is yet to be thrashed out and delays open the possibility of other clubs challenging the Blues for the player’s signature.
With Carlo Ancelotti recently appointed as manager, there have been suggestions that the Serie A club are waiting to see if either the new coach wants him or – more likely – Sarri moves to Chelsea and wants to take his prized midfielder to Stamford Bridge.
Joao Santos, Jorginho’s agent, did little to shut down the prospect of a bidding war when namedropping a number of ‘important and interesting’ top European clubs.
But he did confirm that there has not been any contact from those clubs as he prepares for talks with Napoli bosses this week to decide whether the player’s future remains at the Stadio San Paolo or not.
“I don’t know if the negotiations between Napoli and City for Jorginho have moved forward,” he said.
“I’m not a part of that, so you’ll have to ask Napoli.
“Chelsea are an important and interesting club, like Barcelona and Real Madrid, but they’ve never contacted me.
“I’ll be in Italy this week. In the transfer market things can mature in 15 hours or in 15 days.”
City have not signed a player from Serie A since 2013 when they paid Fiorentina £22m for Stevan Jovetic, the Montenegrin striker lasting two injury-hit seasons at the Etihad before moving to Inter on loan and then a permanent basis.
But it is a league Guardiola admires – the Catalan spent two years there as a player and has not ruled out a coaching job there in future – and he was full of praise for Napoli last season.
“We faced one of the best sides I faced in my career – probably the best,” he said after a 2-1 win at the Etihad.
“It is one of the wins I am most proud in my career.
“We won against an incredible team. To do that you have to do an incredible performance. That team takes out energy because they have the quality to take the ball as much as possible.”