Craig Hope has confirmed that Italian international Jorginho is on Newcastle United’s January transfer list.
Reports have suggested that Newcastle aren’t looking to be very active in January, however, the fact that Jonjo Shelvey has now picked up a muscular injury which will keep him out until February, the Magpies are now set to move for a new central midfielder.
Several players have recently been linked with Newcastle including Youri Tielemans, Kpherem Thuram, Kouadio Kone and Jorginho with the latter set to be out o contract at the end of the season which will make him an appealing option for PIF.
Hope has been speaking on The True Faith podcast about Newcastle’s genuine interest in Jorginho to help unleash Bruno Guimaraes.
He said: (20:30) “The one that’s interesting, and I know this will split opinion amongst Supporters, but I’ve been told today [Thursday] that he is of interest and is on the list is Jorginho at Chelsea.
“When I first heard that I thought no surely not at 31 years old but he’s got six months to run on his contract, Chelsea aren’t giving him a new deal, Chelsea are looking at Enzo Fernandez who Newcastle would love but just aren’t getting drawn into a £100 million bidding war it’s just not where they are at the moment.
Would Jorginho improve Newcastle?
Yes!
No!
“So Jorginho’s going to go for free in the summer, now I think Newcastle have looked at that and thought could we, for a minimal fee, get Jorginho out of Chelsea? 31-year-old, good fitness record he plays games, you’ll say that about him and Newcastle are crying out for someone in that holding role to free Bruno to play in one of the other positions going forward a little bit more.”
TIF Thoughts on Newcastle’s interest in Jorginho…
It was certainly a transfer link that not many people will have seen coming especially after The Telegraph reported that Newcastle were looking to bring in younger players in January as they look to build towards the future.
However, given the injury to Shelvey, Jorginho’s ability to keep the ball and ensure possession keeps ticking over would indeed allow Guimaraes to venture further forward which is where he’s most dangerous as was showcased by his assist for Miguel Almiron on Boxing Day.
While some reports have suggested that Chelsea are now keen to offer Jorginho a good enough contract to keep him at the club, if they end up signing someone such as Fernandez then Jorginho could feel he’s being pushed down the pecking order and in tuner the Magpies would be getting a ‘world class‘ midfielder, according to Jose Enrique who was impressed earlier this year.