Manchester City very nearly signed Napoli ace Jorginho before he chose to re-unite with Maurizio Sarri at Premier League rivals Chelsea instead.
Chelsea hero Pat Nevin has spoken out in support of the much-maligned Jorginho – telling BBC Radio 5 Live that Manchester City would jump at the chance to bring the Italian international to the Etihad Stadium.
Jorginho was expected to join Pep Guardiola’s title-winning City squad last summer with The Guardian claiming that the Manchester giants were on the verge of signing the Napoli playmaker for £43 million.
But the chance to work alongside his former Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea proved too good to turn down for Jorginho, who eventually moved to Stamford Bridge rather than the Etihad Stadium.
And despite completing more passes than any other Premier League player in 2018/19 (3118 in total), the 27-year-old has been frequently criticised for failing to transform possession into chances.
Nevin, however, believes Jorginho deserves more credit and, given the chance, Guardiola would love to finally sign a player he missed out on 12 months ago.
“When people say these things about players like [Jorginho] and the manager (Sarri), I’m kind of offended by them. But if I say that, people will just say I’m biased towards Chelsea. It’s rubbish,” Nevin said.
“Do you know what, Man City would batter the door down to take him right now. That’s how good a player he is.”
Manchester City are expected to make a deep-lying playmaker their top priority this summer with the long-serving Fernandinho now 34 years of age.
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