Jorginho is in focus on Monday, as a Premier League club is reportedly offering a big fee to convince Napoli and the Italian that it is a better home than Manchester City.
The Etihad Stadium has seemed a foregone conclusion when it comes to the 26-year-old midfielder, a mainstay of Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli and a breakout member of the Italian national team.
[ MORE: Bobby Wood staying in Bundesliga ]
Sarri is under contract with Napoli, but no longer the manager at Napoli. Chelsea has been unable to land the manager due to an unwillingness to pay his release clause, and Football Italia says that the Serie A club is willing to pay about $71 million — $12 more than Man City’s offer — to bring Jorginho to Stamford Bridge. That would theoretically make amends for not Chelsea meeting the Sarri release clause (that they’d essentially be meeting. Yeah, it’s hard to keep up).
And Jorginho in the same midfield as N'Golo Kante and a more comfortable Tiemoue Bakayoko is frightening for much of the Premier League’s attack-minded midfielders.
Got that? Good, cause Man City understands and allegedly has a back-up plan who is also currently a Serie A star.
Miralem Pjanic is older and more expensive than Jorginho, but Calcio Mercato says Juventus may now be willing to move the Bosnian midfielder.
The 28-year-old former Roma midfielder had, oddly enough, been linked with Chelsea earlier in the summer.
With a $95 million asking price, the move would further fly in the face of what Pep Guardiola expected to be a summer without massive outlays. The report does say that Man City would start at approximately half that fee.
Back to Chelsea, they look ready to loan Kenedy back to Newcastle United after a Tuesday medical. The Brazilian left-sided man was a huge hit for Rafa Benitez in a half-season loan last season.
It would be another loan deal this year with a view to a Summer 2019 purchase should things go well. Newcastle wouldn’t be able to use him against Chelsea, obviously, but he was a game-changer in several of Newcastle’s notable second-half upsets.
