Eyebrows were raised when a Chelsea side already lacking leaders and experienced players decided to sell Jorginho on transfer deadline day. Outside of the fact that the then 31-year-old was being let go, seeing him move across London to rivals Arsenal was a blow.
Having successfully fought against fans to win over many at Stamford Bridge throughout his four and a half years at the club, Jorginho looked to have left a hole in the Blues' midfield. Graham Potter was already struggling to integrate a host of newer, younger players and his squad was mounting higher by the day.
Jorginho, one of a handful of players to have been at the club longer than three years, was a key part of the dressing room and despite his waning influence on the team when it came to playing, was still a vital element to the internal mechanics. He had become an extremely popular member and reports suggest there were doubts over whether allowing him to go was good business.
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In the immediate months that have followed, both camps have been proven right. Whilst Arsenal have continued to hold themselves at the top of the table, Chelsea have plumeted. Things were hardly going swimmingly with Jorginho their to anchor things in midfield and dictate the tempo, anyway.
He lost five of his last nine league games for the Blues and won just two of those. By this stage his levels of goal output - or lack thereof - were no surprise but his ageing legs and disjointed teammates around didn't help to create an environment in-which either were getting the best of the other.
Chelsea couldn't protect the backline with Jorginho present and likewise weren't offering much going forward. It was far from all down to him but the sale, in truth, made sense. The Italian had been expected to leave come the summer anyway. Chelsea picked up an extra £10million ($12.6million) for a player that would have left for free six months later. Arsenal got a campaigner that could slot in immediately.
It is fitting, perhaps, that on the weekend that Chelsea gained just their third league win without him, Arsenal relied upon his calmness and level headedness that was needed to bypass Newcastle.
In a composed, assured and confident set-up, Jorginho has been able to add the skills that a player with his game-smarts can do. At Chelsea those facilities around him crumbled and the results both before and after his departure tell the story.
Enzo Fernandez, purchased as a long-term upgrade and replacement for Jorginho, has found things similarly chaotic and unstable in the middle of the park. Whilst the Argentine has shown signs and huge promise of adding much more than just tempo and control to games, he has also struggled to sustain that outside of his early weeks.
Against Bournemouth, and alongside the energetic pairing of N'Golo Kante and Conor Gallagher, Fernandez ticked off a quietly impressive afternoon without offering too many flashes. His 94 touches is below average for him in the Premier League - a sign of how good his early weeks were - and and his 94% passing accuracy with 11/13 completed long balls shows his differences to Jorginho.
The pair aren't the same, though, and ensuring that Fernandez is profiled in the right way, ideally with a destroyer-type player alongside him, will be key to getting true value for his transfer price. Whilst he can't yet add the intangible qualities that Jorginho has, Chelsea have shown that they made the right choice in gambling with a young player at a high cost rather than sticking to their guns with a low-cost but seasoned pro.
Both things here can be true. Mikel Arteta was full of praise for his new player, saying after the 2-0 win at St. James' Park: "He was exceptional, he was man of the match, there were question marks because it was going to be really physical.
"If you want to go physicality against physicality, you have no chance to win the game so we had to try something different.
"He understood the game really well, he's a really intelligent player. He gives a lot of security to the team and dominated the game in many moments."
Gary Neville agrees on the impact, revelling in his importance. "I thought they might get eaten alive [on Sunday vs Newcastle]. The atmosphere was ferocious. Arsenal grew up here a lot," he said.
"Mikel Arteta deserves a lot of credit for picking Jorginho. Many would have said get Thomas Partey back in there. The class Martin Odegaard showed in the first 30 minutes was outstanding.
"Jorginho composed his team-mates and guided them. (Gabriel) Martinelli and (Bukayo) Saka are still not at their best but the composure from Odegaard and Jorginho was there for all to see.
"The reason why Manchester United players and Pep Guardiola have said Paul Scholes is their favourite player was because in moments in the hardest atmosphere in a difficult away game those players are unique.
"They have the composure, the balance to get the team playing. That's what Jorginho reminded me of - he was fantastic."
Chelsea, a team built far from the same structure that Maurizio Sarri had in place to allow Jorginho to blossom in a deep-midfield role, have moved on. Jorginho has too and there's no shame in either outcome.
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