Manchester City Transfer News: Jorginho's Agent Discusses Potential Summer Move
Gill Clark@@gillclarky
Featured Columnist IMay 17, 2018
Napoli midfielder Jorginho's agent, Joao Santos, has said the 26-year-old will join Manchester City if the two clubs can come to an agreement.
Jorginho has attracted interest this season after an impressive season with Napoli, and Santos said he could leave the Serie A side, per CalcioNapoli24.it (h/t Naveen Ullal at Sport Witness).
"At this moment Jorginho is still under contract but if Napoli finds an agreement with City, the player will go to Manchester. Finding an agreement with the English club will not be a problem considering the importance of the team.
"But, I repeat, that will depend on the decisions of Napoli as the player is tied for another two years.
"City are the Champions of England and are one of the top European clubs. If Napoli and City find a solution, we can talk about it, otherwise he will be happy to continue in Naples.
"At the moment, I have not heard anything from the leadership of Napoli. I hope to hear from the director and maybe in the next few days I will be in Naples to talk about it."
Jorginho has played a key role in a vibrant Napoli side who have lit up Italy with their attractive, attacking brand of football under manager Maurizio Sarri. The club challenged Juventus for the league title and beat them in Turin in April but have since faltered and will finish as runners-up.
Analyst Matteo Bonetti explained why Pep Guardiola is so keen on the midfielder:
Matteo Bonetti @TheCalcioGuyManchester City in advanced talks for Napoli’s Jorginho. No surprise that Pep would want him - Jorginho plays the Busquets role for Napoli, a team that has similar characteristics to what Guardiola enjoys. Jorginho has excellent positioning and is a fine passer as the deepest mid
Guardiola has said he does not want to make too many changes to his team this summer, per Marca's Alvaro de Grado.
He said: "We won't make too many signings, we'll maybe change one or two details. We made a good, heavy investment last season, but that was because it was an old team, 10 or 11 players were over 30 years old. So we made changes last season, now we're just looking at details."
Jorginho will not come cheap, though, as Napoli want €60 million (£52.9 million) for the Brazil-born Italian, per Paul Hirst at The Times.
He does look a good fit for Guardiola's team and will strengthen the Premier League champions even further. City comfortably won the league and finished the season on 100 points, 19 clear of Manchester United in second place.
Opta showed how dominant they were:
However, the team faltered in the UEFA Champions League, as they were soundly beaten 5-1 on aggregate by Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the competition.
City will be hoping Jorginho can help their European ambitions. They have never lifted the Champions League but will expect that to change having brought in Guardiola and invested so heavily in the squad.