Mario Melchiot says Arsenal secured the transfer of Jorginho from Chelsea in January so he can ‘talk for Mikel Arteta’ during their difficult moments.
The 31-year-old has a vast amount of experience under his belt, both in the Premier League and on the international stage, winning two major trophies in recent years.
From Chelsea’s European Cup triumph against Manchester City to Euro 2020 glory with Italy, against England in their own backyard at Wembley, Jorginho has been there in the big pressure moments and proven his worth.
That is proving to be useful for Premier League title-chasing Arsenal, who not only have a young squad, but players who haven’t won those big trophies.
Well, added to the summer captures of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, you can add Jorginho to the list of players who know how to get over that dotted line.
And former Chelsea defender Mario Melchiot thinks that’s a key reason why Jorginho has signed despite previous questions as to why the midfielder decided to join Arsenal in the first place, as he told Premier League Productions (20/03/23 at 2:50 pm).
“You know when Jorginho went over people were like, ‘why is he going there and why would he take that decision?'” said Melchiot.
“It was very clear. Arteta was thinking about it. He was like ‘I am going to get a guy that has won so much, and if a problem comes in the team, then I have a guy that can talk for me’.
“There is no player, in any team, that wants to be seen as being close to the coach. You don’t want to be that player. You want to keep a distance between you and the manager.
“So, who else is going to talk? Jorginho is going to do the job for him. That’s what he is building. He is building something, ‘Oh, am I going to need that, then put that in’. If I watch Arsenal now, the confidence and the belief.”
JORGINHO ALREADY MAKING AN IMPACT
It didn’t start great for Jorginho because, as soon as he entered the building, Arsenal had their little blip, which proved to be three games of torture, including losing to Manchester City and Sean Dyche’s Everton.
But that comeback win at Aston Villa, including his stunning stoppage-time strike, has provided the Italy star with serious lift off.
It needs to be remembered that, during that period, Thomas Partey was injured and their January capture proved exactly why he was brought to the club.
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