Arsenal ‘interested’ in Jorginho as Partey ‘alternative’ — report

Here’s a fun one for ya, which you would imagine would never ever happen, but hey, it’s the last two weeks of the transfer window and it’s time to get buck wild.

Sky Sports claims that Arsenal are “interested” in Jorginho and have put him on their shortlist as an “alternative” signing to Thomas Partey. The Gunners have been on the trail of the Atlético Madrid midfielder seemingly forever, but he remains in Spain and would’ve probably played last weekend had Atléti’s start to the season not been delayed due to their late participation in Europe last season.

Arsenal’s anticipated move for Partey also hinges on the future of Lucas Torreira, especially if he ends up going (on loan) to Atléti. But apparently that’s not a given, so Arsenal, like any team, have drawn up a couple alternative options, one of which is Lyon’s Houssem Aouar (a familiar rumor mill participant) and the other is Chelsea’s Jorginho.

That seems entirely random, even after the unfruitful Juventus rumors earlier in the summer, but Gunners boss Mikel Arteta was an assistant at Manchester City when they came very close to signing him. Jorginho of course ended up leaving Pep & Co at the altar by choosing Sarri’s Chelsea instead. Sky add that Jorginho “appears” to be part of Lampard’s plans as well, in effect debunking their own story, but we got a headline out of it anyway.

That said, if they want to give us X amount, I’d be more than happy if we turned that into Declan Rice, which is a story that’s still hibernating for now.