Jorginho takes up midfield legend Michal Essien’s old shirt number at Chelsea

After the announcements of both Maurizio Sarri and Jorginho over a period of a few hours, we now also know the shirt number of Jorginho: he’ll be wearing the number 5 shirt!

Jorginho thus follows in the footsteps of one of Chelsea’s best ever midfielders, Michael Essien. Those are quite some boots to fill but if anyone can thrive in the role and be a driving force in Sarri’s system then it’s Jorginho!

Kurt Zouma, Alexei Smertin, Frank Leboeuf, and Erland Johnsen also have graced the number since permanent shirt numbers were introduced in 1993.

There are, of course, some slight worries regarding what the taking of this specific number may mean for its previous holder, Kurt Zouma.

Whether Happy will simply choose another number or will be loaned out/moved on remains to be seen. Implication or not, now is not the time to be worried about such scenarios as the ecstasy of this absolutely terrific signing right under Manchester City’s noses should be a just cause for several days of celebration!

And so are we, Jorg! I can’t contain my excitement! Up the Chels!