Chelsea star Jorginho has opened up on just how close he came to joining Manchester City in the summer of 2018.
When coming towards the end of his time with Napoli, the midfielder had been strongly linked with a move to Pep Guardiola’s side and a fee between the two parties was thought to have been agreed.
A move, however, broke down and the Italian international followed Maurizio Sarri from Naples to Stamford Bridge where he initially struggled.
Often seen as the embodiment of the fairly unpopular ‘Sarri-ball’, Jorginho had to go some way into proving his worth after a £50m transfer.
Still, those doubts seem foolish now after he helped Chelsea win the Champions League in 2021, emerging as one of the best midfielders in the competition and finishing third in the recent Ballon d’Or rankings, alongside helping Italy conquer England in the Euro 2020 final.
A hugely important figure under Thomas Tuchel, it’s hard to think of a more important signing Chelsea have made over the last few years.
Still, speaking to Brazilian YouTuber Ale Oliveira, Jorginho shared more insight as to the build-up to his move.
“A bid arrived and… you don’t know, man. I’m not going to say it,” he said.
“No, I’m kidding (laughs). I wasn’t supposed to come to Chelsea, man. I was supposed to have arrived at another club. Another English club.
“And then it happened as it happened and I arrived at Chelsea, which also, hey, with history, that’s Chelsea, right, man. So with Chelsea everything happened very fast. When I saw it, I was already in London and I said ‘let’s go’.”
