Official: Chelsea sign Jorginho from Napoli

In a rather surprising development, Manchester City have officially lost out on a transfer target to Chelsea, who have gazumped their way back into transfer market relevance with the signing of Jorginho from Napoli. (With lawyers insisting that the €57+8m deal is a separate one from Sarri).

The 26-year-old had been at Napoli since January 2014, joining from fair Verona. While he struggled to make an impact under former Chelsea manager Rafael Benítez, things changed to his favour when Maurizio Sarri took over the club’s coaching duties at the beginning of the 2015-16 season. From that point on, he became an integral cog of Sarri’s well-oiled machine ... and that relationship is probably set to continue at Chelsea.

As per the words of Napoli’s chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis and recently confirmed by Sarri’s lawyer, the negotiations between his club and Chelsea for Jorginho and Sarri were not intertwined, but the €57 million initial fee paid coupled with €8 million in bonuses, as reported by Gianluca Di Marzio, probably helped the Blues move within reach of the new head coach.

Overall, this is an excellent and ambitious transfer that makes a positive statement regarding the club’s ambitions. Jorginho won’t have much resale value, but he’s a signing to win now and for the foreseeable future.

Welcome, Jorginho! Let’s win some things.