City must increase their bid in pursuit of Jorginho
By James Fudge
It has been widely regarded that Jorginho is set to become a Manchester City player ready for the defence of their Premier League next season, however, it appears there has been a stumbling block in their pursuit.
Napoli President, Aurelio De Laurentiis, has confirmed in an interview with Corriere dello Sport over the weekend, “I have just refused the last bid for Jorginho from Manchester City, they have offered €50M”.
The deal was reportedly €45million up front with a €5million in add-ons. Should Pep Guardiola acquire his services ready for pre-season then they must up their bid to a reported €60million or more, and quickly.
There are now reports that Premier League rivals Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United are looking to sign the Italian international.
The Brazilian born central midfielder qualifies for Italian citizenship through his grandparents and moved to the north of Italy when he was 15. Progressed through Verona’s youth system, the midfielder has been a revelation for Napoli this season as they came close to ending Juventus’ dominance in Serie A.
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But is he worth the price tag? And would the Man City hierarchy be prepared to spend that sort of money on Jorginho?
The simply answer is yes and Man City Square predicted the signing almost a week ago. The Cityzens need a central midfielder to compete with Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan, with the Brazilian turning 33 this year and the former Dortmund midfielder unreliable following his apparent susceptibility to injuries.
Phil Foden doesn’t quite fit the bill yet and Fabian Delph and Oleksandr Zinchenko are not star quality to regularly join Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva in the central midfielder areas.
If the Napoli midfielder were to join, you would expect him to link the defence and midfield by spreading accurate passes forward and side-to-side.
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He played more passes than anyone in the top five European leagues, finding his target 2,860 times out of an attempted 3,197 passes.
A perfect fit for the style that the manager demands, possessing added qualities to squad required to retain the Premier League and go further to win the Champions League title.