Premier League star is travelling to North London to finalise a shock move to Arsenal as the Gunners put the finishing touches on a deal with Chelsea, according to Goal journalist Charles Watts.
Mikel Arteta wants to strengthen his midfield options this month and Arsenal have been desperately trying to agree a deal with Brighton for Moises Caicedo.
Two bids worth at least £70m have been rejected for the Ecuadorian international and Brighton have made it clear he won’t be leaving before the January transfer window shuts.
Arsenal have now accepted defeat and moved onto other targets, with widespread reports claiming they are now in talks with Chelsea over a surprise deal to sign Jorginho.
The Athletic journalist David Ornstein was one of the first to report that Arsenal are ‘advancing’ towards a deal for the 31-year-old after acknowledging that Brighton aren’t going to sell Caicedo.
Goal reporter Charles Watts now claims that Jorginho is travelling to North London to put the finishing touches on a move with the two clubs finalising terms of the deal. Watts says the move is ‘increasingly likely’ to happen before tonight’s 11pm deadline.
It’s not clear how much Arsenal will pay but Jorginho has just 6 months left on his contract. The Italian international is valued at around £30m by Transfermarkt but Arsenal will want to pay substantially less than that given his contract situation.
Reinforcements
Arsenal are in the market for a midfielder following a long-term injury to Egypt international Mohamed Elneny. Arteta wants to provide competition for the likes Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey in the middle of the park.
Any injury to key players like Partey, Xhaka or Martin Ødegaard would have a serious effect on the team, forcing Arteta to enter the market to add at least one more midfielder and is looks like he’s settled on Jorginho.
The London-based club are eyeing a summer move for West Ham ace Declan Rice but want a stop-gap midfielder to solve their midfield issues before spending big at the end of the season.
However, any proposed deal for Jorginho is probably dependant on Chelsea finalising their £115m move for Benfica star Anzo Fernandez. So it could be a hectic deadline day in London with Arsenal waiting for the Blues to tie-up their deal before Jorginho will be allowed to seal his move to the Emirates.
