Jorginho

Biography

Jorge Luiz Frello Filho, best known as Jorginho (born 20 December 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Chelsea and the Italy national team.

Born in Brazil, Jorginho moved to Italy at the age of 15 and began his professional career with the Verona youth team before being promoted to the senior team. During the 2010–11 season, he was sent on loan to Sambonifacese.

In January 2014, he moved to Napoli, where he immediately won the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana. He totalled 160 games for the club before a £50 million move to Chelsea in 2018, where he won the UEFA Europa League in his first season.

Club career

Hellas Verona

Jorginho was a youth player of Verona. In June 2010, Jorginho was loaned out to Serie C2 side A.C. Sambonifacese, where he played his first full senior season for the Veneto club – appearing 31 times and scoring one goal whilst providing ten assists from his central midfield position.

He made his Verona debut on 4 September 2011, in a match against Sassuolo as a substitute in the 76th minute.

Napoli

On 18 January 2014, he joined Napoli in a co-ownership deal with Verona for four and a half years. On 12 February, he scored the last goal as Napoli overturned a 3–2 first-leg deficit to beat Roma and reach the 2014 Coppa Italia Final.

In the final, on 3 May, Jorginho played the full 90 minutes as Napoli defeated Fiorentina 3–1. In the 2014 Supercoppa Italiana in Doha on 22 December 2014, Jorginho entered the game against Juventus in the second half of extra time in place of Jonathan de Guzmán.

He took Napoli’s first spot-kick in the penalty shootout, and although Gianluigi Buffon saved it, Napoli were eventually victorious. While initially struggling to get into manager Rafael Benítez’s lineup, Jorginho’s fortunes changed with the appointment of Maurizio Sarri, who was crucial to his development. In 2017, Jorginho had a breakthrough season with Napoli and was integral to their Serie A title challenge.

Chelsea

On 14 July 2018, Jorginho signed for English team Chelsea on a five-year contract on the same day as Sarri was hired at the club. He joined for a transfer fee of £50m with £7m in potential add-ons and was assigned the number 5 shirt. According to Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis, he was previously close to joining Manchester City.

Jorginho made his debut on 5 August in the 2018 FA Community Shield at Wembley Stadium against that very opponent and was booed by City fans in Chelsea’s 2–0 loss. Six days later, he played his first Premier League match, in which he scored a penalty in a 3–0 win at Huddersfield Town.

In Chelsea’s third league match of the campaign, a 2–1 win away at Newcastle United, Jorginho completed 158 passes, which was a new record for the most successful passes by a Chelsea player in a single match in the Premier League and the second all-time in the league, behind İlkay Gündoğan’s 167 completed passes for Manchester City against Chelsea the year prior.

Jorginho went on to break the attempted passes record in Chelsea’s sixth league match of the season on 23 September, attempting 180 passes in a 0–0 draw away at West Ham United, breaking the record of 173 attempted passes again set by Gündoğan in the same Manchester City–Chelsea match the year before.

On 24 February 2019, following a 0–0 draw after extra-time in the 2019 EFL Cup Final against cup holders Manchester City, Jorginho missed Chelsea’s first penalty in the resulting shoot-out, which ultimately saw Manchester City triumph 4–3. On 29 May, Jorginho featured in Chelsea’s 4–1 victory over Arsenal in the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final.

2019–20 season

In the 2019 UEFA Super Cup against Liverpool on 14 August, Jorginho scored the equalizer from the penalty spot in extra time in an eventual 2–2 draw. The match subsequently went to a penalty shoot-out; although Jorginho was able to net Chelsea’s first penalty, Liverpool ultimately won the shoot-out 5–4.

He scored his first league goal of the season, also from the penalty spot, in a 2–0 home win over Brighton & Hove Albion on 28 September. On 5 November, he scored twice from the penalty spot as Chelsea came from behind to earn a 4–4 home draw against Ajax in the Champions League.

2020–21 season

Jorginho scored Chelsea’s first goal of the season from the penalty spot in an eventual 3–1 league win against Brighton & Hove Albion on 14 September at Falmer Stadium. On 20 September, Jorginho missed his first penalty for Chelsea in the exact match in which he made his 100th appearance for the club; Liverpool won 2–0.

On 3 October, he scored two penalties as Chelsea ran out 4–0 winners at home to Crystal Palace. He also led the team in goals in the Premier League, all coming from penalties. On 29 May 2021, Jorginho won his first-ever Champions League with Chelsea, beating Manchester City 1–0 in the final.

2021–22 season

Jorginho came on as a substitute during the 2021 UEFA Super Cup against Villarreal on 12 August, which Chelsea won 6–5 on penalties. He took and scored the fifth penalty in the shoot-out.

On 26 August 2021, Jorginho was named UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award, beating out his Chelsea teammate and UEFA Men’s Midfielder of the Year, N’Golo Kanté, as well as Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne.

On 8 October, Jorginho was one of five Chelsea players included in the final 30-man shortlist for the 2021 Ballon d’Or. On 30 October, he converted a penalty in a 3–0 win away to Newcastle. In doing so, he became the first player in Premier League history to have ten consecutive goals from the penalty spot.

On 29 November, he placed third in the Ballon d’Or, behind winners Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski.

Jorginho started for Chelsea in the 1–0 semi-final victory over Al-Hilal in the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup on 9 February 2022, playing the first half before coming off for N’Golo Kanté. He was an unused substitute as Chelsea beat Palmeiras in the final three days later to claim the Club World Cup title for the first time in the club’s history.

Arsenal: 2022–23 season

Jorginho signed for Arsenal on 31 January 2023 on a one-and-a-half-year contract with the option of a further year for a fee of £12 million. He made his debut on 4 February as a 59th-minute substitute in Arsenal’s 1–0 defeat away to Everton.

On 18 February, Jorginho’s 93rd-minute strike against Aston Villa hit the crossbar. It went in off of Emi Martínez’s head, giving Arsenal a late 3–2 lead in a match they eventually won 4–2 after a three-game winless run. On 7 May, Jorginho provided an assist in Arsenal’s 2–0 win away to Newcastle and was awarded Man of the Match for his impressive performance.

National career

As Jorginho holds both Italian and Brazilian citizenship, he was eligible to play for both the Italian and Brazilian national teams. In 2012, he was called up for the first time for Italy U21. In 2014, Jorginho expressed his desire to represent Italy rather than Brazil internationally, and he received his first call-up to the Italy senior squad in March 2016, under manager Antonio Conte, for the team’s international friendlies against Spain and Germany.

He made his international debut for Italy on 24 March, coming on as a last-minute substitute for Marco Parolo in a 1–1 draw against Spain at the Stadio Friuli in Udine. After initially being included in Conte’s preliminary 30-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016 on 31 May, Jorginho was later excluded from the final 23-man squad.

In spite of his positive club form for Napoli, Jorginho was not initially called up to the Italian side under Conte’s successor, Gian Piero Ventura. Although rumours circled in the media regarding the possibility of Brazil’s coach Tite calling Jorginho up to his squad in autumn 2017, as he had not yet appeared for Italy in a competitive match, Jorginho denied rumours that he wanted to switch to the Brazilian national team.

He later made his first competitive appearance for Italy under manager Ventura in a 0–0 home draw against Sweden on 13 November, in the second leg of the World Cup play-offs, at the San Siro in Milan; however, Italy’s 1–0 away loss in the first leg on 10 November saw Sweden advance on aggregate, meaning that Italy had failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years.

On 7 September 2018, in Italy’s first UEFA Nations League match at home to Poland in Bologna, Jorginho scored his first international goal from the penalty spot to secure a 1–1 draw.

On 8 September 2019, he scored his second international goal, from the penalty spot once again, in a 2–1 away win over Finland in a Euro 2020 qualifier.

In June 2021, he was included in Italy’s squad for Euro 2020 by manager Roberto Mancini. On 6 July, following a 1–1 draw after extra-time against Spain in the semi-final of the competition, Jorginho scored the decisive penalty kick in the resulting shoot-out to send Italy to the final; during the match, he completed a tournament-high of eight interceptions.

In the final on 11 July against England at Wembley Stadium, after a 1–1 draw following extra time, his spot-kick was saved in the penalty shootout by Jordan Pickford, but Italy would go on to win 3–2 in the shootout after Bukayo Saka missed his penalty. 

Throughout the tournament, he covered the most ground of any player (86.6 km in total), making the most recoveries alongside Manuel Akanji (46), and completed the second most passes of any player after Aymeric Laporte (497 out of 529 attempted, with a 93% passing accuracy).

He also won the most fouls (19). He made the most interceptions (25) of any other player, breaking Marcel Desailly’s record of 24 interceptions in a single tournament from UEFA Euro 1996, since these statistics first began to be recorded at UEFA Euro 1980. For his performances, he was included in the team of the tournament.

Jorginho played all 90 minutes as Italy failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, losing 1–0 in the play-off semi-final to North Macedonia on 24 March 2022.