Speaking on the Football Ramble Daily podcast, Pete Donaldson claimed that he believes ‘the writing’s on the wall’ for Jorginho to leave the club this summer.
Since making the move to Chelsea from Napoli in a £51.30 million deal back in 2018, the Italian midfielder has gone on to make 92 appearances for the Blues, scoring nine goals and providing two assists.
This season, the 28-year-old has featured 27 times in the Premier League, scoring four goals and providing two assists, averaging a WhoScored match rating of 6.91 – ranking him as Chelsea’s joint ninth-best performer so far this term.
However, despite these fairly impressive statistics, the midfielder has played just 10 minutes of Premier League football for Frank Lampard’s side since the resumption of the league, leading to questions being raised regarding player’s future at the club, with the report from Goal also suggesting that the Italian is less than happy about being left out.
And, on the subject of the midfielder, Donaldson recently stated on the Football Ramble Daily podcast that he believes ‘the writing is on the wall’ for the Italian this summer.
He said: “He was an expensive footballer. If you’re playing a 19-year-old Billy Gilmour over the top of him – and [N’Golo] Kante obviously was out of the picture as well for Selhurst Park, so it was an interesting decision.
“I think the writing’s on the wall for Jorginho, though, I think he’s gonna leave at the end of the season. But then, who’s going to buy him? No one’s got any money.”
TIF Thoughts…
The points that Donaldson raises on Jorginho all seem accurate, as he did indeed cost Chelsea a great deal of money.
However, Jorginho is an exceptional footballer, although, you have to dig a little deeper in his personal statistics to truly appreciate this, as his total record of goals and assists is not exactly breath-taking.
But, when considering the midfielder has made on average 80.1 passes per game over the 252 appearances he has made throughout his club and international career, as well as averaging 1.2 key passes per game and a 89.3% pass success rate, it is evident how efficient Jorginho is with the ball.
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Having said this, if Lampard feels that the midfielder does not fit his system, as well as preferring to start Billy Gilmour in the centre of midfield, as he did against Crystal Palace, the question must be asked as to whether it is financially worth keeping the £46.8 million-rated man sitting on the Chelsea bench.