Few players in the history of Chelsea have divided opinion quite like Jorginho. During his first season at Stamford Bridge, he was booed by supporters inside Stamford Bridge. In his third, he was celebrated as a key figure in the side that won the Champions League.
What has never been in doubt is Jorginho's technical quality. Nor his football brain. The issue was his lack of physicality and mobility. When used as a single six at the base of a three-man midfield, those weaknesses were ruthlessly exploited and the defence behind him exposed.
It's why Thomas Tuchel changed Chelsea's shape to a 3-4-2-1 after replacing Frank Lampard. It was a move done to protect and enhance both Thiago Silva and Jorginho, as the German explained in fascinating detail earlier in the campaign.
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He said: "Jorgi is a very strategic player. He can play in advance, knows what to do in ball possession, can imagine what is going to happen one or two passes ahead.
"He knows where to help out in short distances and long distances, when to switch the play, when not to switch the play. He has a good sense of rhythm.
"He lacks, if you isolate him or watch him separately, the pure physical ability that makes him the number one candidate to be a No.6 in the Premier League.
"But once you have him in a certain structure, he is very well organised in his game, he organises all the environment around him, which helps him then, when everything is organised, and then he can show his true abilities in controlling the rhythm of a game."
Chelsea face a tricky decision over Jorginho's future come the end of this season. The midfielder is out of contract in the summer of 2023 and talks to extend his deal have not dramatically progressed. There is interest from clubs in Serie A and at 30 years old, a return to Italy may appeal. His agent has said as much.
Yet Jorginho's importance - both to Tuchel and to his teammates - should not be undervalued. He is an on-pitch leader and vocal organiser. That is something former Chelsea goalkeeper Rob Green discovered shortly after arriving at Stamford Bridge in the same summer as the now 30-year-old joined from Napoli.
"He's such a bright and bubbly character," Green told football.london. "He's always smiling. He has his way of playing - and is obviously a fantastic player who has wonderful technical ability. But it's his brain that is functioning at a different level [to other players].
"I remember I played with him in a pre-season friendly against Lyon and during that the ball came back to me, a back pass, and I hit it clear. At the end of the game, he came to me and asked what I was doing. I sort of looked at him and said, 'what do you mean?'
"And talk about your learning curves. He said and pointed: 'If they have two strikers then they'll press from there and there. So I'll move here and you can pass the ball out to me. But if they've only got one striker, they'll go over there and I'll show for the ball, but then that pass out there is free.'
"He knows that all over the pitch and is working it out as people change positions and coaches tweak formations. So that insight into how his brain functions while in the mix of a game was incredible. It was genuinely a moment - and we were only in pre-season - that I thought to myself, 'crap, I wish I had been here earlier in my career' as I wish I'd got that understanding and education of how things work at that level."
