While their noisy neighbours continue to splash big cash on defenders, Manchester United are looking in other directions to improve. One of those is the midfield, with Italian midfielder Jorginho reportedly on the verge of signing for the Red Devils.
A report of Rai Sport suggests Jorginho’s agents are in Manchester at the moment, trying to strike a deal. This could mean two things: Napoli are considering selling the midfielder to Man U, or that the midfielder’s agents are hoping to coax a new deal out of the Italian club. Jorginho is signed until the summer of 2020, extending his contract in December 2015. He joined Napoli from Hellas Verona on January 2014 for €9.5 million.
It’s not surprising to see the interest in the 26-year old, who has been linked to English clubs numerous times over the last few years, especially Liverpool, even dating back to his days in Serie B with Verona. His versatility in the midfield, allowing him to play as a box-to-box midfielder, classic defensive midfielder or deep lying playmaker, makes him such a popular commodity, one that has helped Napoli play some of the finest football in Italy over the last few years, albeit coming up short in the title race time after time.
Born in Imbituba, Brazil, Jorginho had no problem landing an Italian citizenship through his Italian grandparents. He has been playing in Italy since he was 15, and since 2014, when the subject first arose, has been talking about wanting to represent Italy instead of Brazil. He has 3 caps for Italy, including one competitive cap, the playoff draw with Sweden that meant Italy were left out of the 2018 World Cup.
This season, he has appeared in 18 Serie A matches, contributing 2 goals and 3 assists, while appearing twice in the Champions League as well (which means he won’t play for Manchester United in that competition). This season was the first time he scored league goals for Napoli. He did net 7 goals in only 18 matches for Verona during his half a season with them in 2013-2014, but he was deployed in a more attacking role than he is now.