Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has confirmed manager Maurizio Sarri and midfield star Jorginho are on the verge of joining Chelsea.
Chelsea have been locked in talks to make Sarri their new manager since the end of last season but have flat-out refused to match Napoli’s demands to release the Italian.
Antonio Conte has already taken the first few days of pre-season at Chelsea but is now expected to be sacked after the west London outfit made a breakthrough in negotiations with Napoli.
Chelsea have agreed a £50m double-deal for Jorginho and Sarri, gazumping Manchester City’s offer for Napoli’s star midfielder.
“The Sarri deal is in the homestretch, it depends on him,” The Daily Telegraph quote Laurentiis as saying. “I’ve laid down my conditions. It’s all in the hands of lawyers.
“Jorginho? We said to ourselves, ‘if Jorginho has any requests, we’ll take them into account’. For that, I’ll have to apologise to Manchester City. However, if the player would rather live in London than Manchester, I can understand that.
“If Chelsea are paying him even more, I can understand that too. Jorginho and Sarri together again? Jorginho would go to Chelsea regardless of Sarri.”
It could prove the turning point in Chelsea’s summer, as the Blues are in disarray with just over a month to go before the new season starts.
The news of Jorginho moving to Chelsea will come as a huge blow to City, who have now missed out on their top two midfield targets following Fred’s move to Manchester United.
Only new Arsenal signing Lucas Torreira (317) has won possession in the middle third more times than Jorginho (310) in the last two Serie A campaigns.
