After Brighton made it clear that Moises Caicedo wasn’t for sale in this January transfer window, Arsenal turned to Chelsea midfielder Jorginho to help plug in any gaps. The Brazilian has signed from Chelsea for a deal worth £12 million on an 18 month contract with the option to extend by one year.
Though this is a controversial signing, with Gooners getting #NotJorginho trending after the announcement we were interested in signing him, he will bring experience with him being 31 years old. He has also been very successful with Chelsea, winning the Champions League which is a dream for Arsenal next season. He is also a much improved option to cover Thomas Partey, should he get injured, as his usual cover, Sambi Lokonga, is set to go on loan to Crystal Palace, which in my opinion is a much needed developmental loan as Sambi seems to be the only player Arteta has signed not to flourish under him; Tavares is playing brilliantly in Ligue 1 and even academy players are bringing a higher level of play than Sambi, so this loan will be vital in the decision to keep or sell him.
Many are comparing Jorginho to Elneny, who is set to be out for the rest of the season with an injury picked up in training. It has been a stinker of a season for Elneny, who will have missed at least 75% of it through injury. When comparing Jorginho to our current midfield, he actually doesn’t do too badly. In 18 games he has scored two goals, created seven chances and made twenty one interceptions, compared with Thomas Partey on 16 games with two goals, fourteen chances create and nineteen interceptions. It is also important that these statistics are from the Premier League; he is already Prem proven and can compete at the highest levels which is essential for us in the title race.
With Jorginho only costing £12 million, it leaves us in a good position financially to buy midfield reinforcements in the summer, such as Declan Rice who is expected to cost around £80 million. It feels as though we have come away with a reasonable deal as we have upgraded on replacements, and it has to be said that £80 million for Caicedo who would have been a backup is a lot of money. Arteta clearly backs the player and he has rarely been proven wrong when putting his trust in a player, so it is essential that we all come together to support Jorginho as we continue the title charge!
Written by: Abby Goodson (@_abbygoodson)
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