Sarri-less Juventus drop interest in Jorginho — reports

Maurizio Sarri’s sacking has more or less put the final nail in the coffin in Juventus’ supposed interest in Jorginho, and recent reports point towards the same.

According to Tuttosport, while the Chelsea midfielder was a prime target for the Old Lady during Sarri’s reign — and vice-versa — new head coach, Andrea Pirlo is not as keen on the 28-year-old. Juventus are now probing other targets apparently, with Sandro Tonali an obvious name, as per Corriere dello Sport, though they don’t want to get into a bidding war with Inter Milan. Conte’s team have been negotiating with Tonali for quite some time, although Juve can now play the “Pirlo card” to entice the “next Pirlo”.

The other, more realistic target is ex-Milan youth and current Sassuolo player, Manuel Locatelli, as per Fabrizio Romano (writing for Calciomercato). Locatelli is seemingly willing to make the switch to Turin, although the current assumption is that he will stay at Sassuolo for another season atleast.

Chelsea would have been hoping to get rid of Jorginho to bring in the funds for Declan Rice and other defensive reinforcements, but with the Vice-captain looking likely to stay put, the Blues could focus on offloading Ross Barkley instead.