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A STAR FOR CLUB & COUNTRY
2020 EURO CHAMPIONS JORGINHO: BRILLIANT IN BLUE
A STAR FOR CLUB AND IN THE SPACE OF JUST TWO YEARS, JORGINHO HAS GONE FROM CHELSEA FANS’ SCAPEGOAT TO A BALLON D’OR CONTENDER. GREG MURRAY EXPLORES THE REGISTA’S RENAISSANCE. COUNTRY
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DID YOU KNOW
Jorginho was born in Imbituba in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina but moved to Italy at the age of 15. He is of Italian descent through his paternal great-grandfather Giacomo Frello who is from Lusiana, Veneto, and thus earned Italian citizenship as a result.
JORGINHO FACTFILE
NAME: Jorge Luiz Frello Filho BORN: December 20, 1991 (Brazil) HT / WT: 1.80m / 68kg POSITION: Midfielder CLUB: Chelsea
CLUB STATS SEASON CLUB APPS GLS 2011-12 H. Verona 30 2 2012-13 H. Verona 41 2 2013-14 H. Verona 18 7 2013-14 Napoli 15 0 2014-15 Napoli 23 0 2015-16 Napoli 35 0 2016-17 Napoli 27 0 2017-18 Napoli 33 2 2018-19 Chelsea 37 2 2019-20 Chelsea 31 4 2020-21 Chelsea 28 7
INTERNATIONAL STATS YEAR APPS GOALS 2016 2 0 2017 1 0 2018 10 1 2019 9 3 2020 5 1 2021 8 0
ince signing for Chelsea in the
Ssummer of 2018, it has not been an easy ride for Jorginho. A vast transfer fee, reported to be £51.3m, and a frustrating first season at Stamford Bridge saw the midfielder rapidly lose the support of Blues fans. Criticisms ranged from slowing down play, to not having the required physicality for a defensive midfield role. For the most part, however, the boos that rang out on the terrace had aligned Jorginho to Maurizio Sarri. Despite ultimately securing the Blues a Europa League title and top-four finish, the possession-based Sarri-ball failed to win over viewers in the UK. Jorginho was viewed as the personification of the tactics: providing style over substance. Having followed Sarri to west London, many were therefore surprised when Jorginho decided against returning to Italy with the manager. This confusion remained after Frank Lampard, signed almost as the antithesis to Sarri, maintained his predecessor’s faith in Jorginho. Out from under the shadow of his former Napoli boss, Jorginho started rebuilding his reputation as a valuable midfielder. The regista remained the first name on the team sheet under Lampard, whilst Roberto Mancini kept his faith in the Brazil-born Italy international throughout the Azzurri’s Euro 2020 qualifying campaign and Nations League matches. With fans and commentators alike coming around to his contributions on the pitch, Jorginho’s true moment of renaissance has come in the past six months. Italy’s dominant run to win Euro 2020 and Chelsea’s triumphant Champions League campaign saw the midfielder play a key role in two of the world’s key football competitions and has put him in contention for the Ballon d’Or. So, what has changed that the football community now recognizes Jorginho as up there with the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski for the game’s top individual prize? The easy answer would be that Jorginho is currently playing in two systems that are built to suit his capabilities. At Napoli, the entire build-up play ran through him with Sarri-ball circumventing his defensive limitations by heavily dominating possession. Roberto Mancini’s Italy and Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea have taken a slightly different, but equally effective, approach to getting the most out of their regista. Safe in the knowledge that neither Giorgio Chiellini nor Leonardo Bonucci have the legs to play a high defensive line, Mancini fielded a lower-lying defence with Jorginho patrolling just in front of them. With no space to run in behind him, the limited pace of Italy’s No 8 was rarely exposed. He was used as a disruptive force with two experienced defenders sweeping just behind him. As a result, Jorginho, who for so long had a reputation as a defensive midfielder with little defensive capability, led Italy during the group stages for tackles Jorginho, born Jorge Luis Frello Filho to Brazilian parents, was a key player for newlycrowned European champions Italy, but was by no means the only ‘oriundo’ in the Italy squad. Fellow Brazil natives Raphael Toloi and Emerson Palmieri proved vital components of Roberto Mancini’s campaign, marking a significant change of tune from the trainer. During his brief spell as Inter coach, Mancini spoke out against the presence of players not born in Italy that qualify due to distant relatives. Palmieri is an example of this, with his Italian ancestor born in 1853. Clearly, despite his initial reluctance, the coach has changed his mind and instead continued the long tradition of South American oriundi starring for the Azzurri. Julio Libonatti was widely recognized as the first South American immigrant with native ancestry, joining Torino from Argentine outfit Newell’s Old Boys in 1926. The diminutive forward starred for the Granata and helped usher in the age of the Grande Torino team. Libonatti’s success saw Italy call up five players who had made previous appearances for Brazil or Argentina. Luis Monti, Raimundo Orsi, Enrique Guaita, Attilio Demaria and Anfilogino Guarisi helped the Azzurri win their home World Cup in 1934, with oriundi featuring regularly in the Italian squad for the following 30 years. However, poor performance in the 1966 World Cup saw foreign players in Serie A made the scapegoats, and as a result Italy closed its border to any non-national footballers. It took almost another 30 years, and the 1995 Bosman ruling, to revoke this decision. A full decade later, Italy once again benefited from the presence of a South American oriundo, as Mauro Camoranesi playing a key role in the Azzurri’s 2006 World Cup win. The Juventus winger may have been a figure of controversy due to his split allegiances with Argentina, but he was the precursor to modern day oriundi in the Italian national team. Since then, names such as Thiago Motta, Eder, Dani Osvaldo and Franco Vasquez have played varying roles for the Azzurri, with Roberto Mancini’s oriundi likely to continue to star for the European champions for years to come.
Jorginho was also a key figure for Chelsea, helping the Blues win their second Champions League title
N’Golo Kante’s presence in the Chelsea team has eased the defensive burden on Jorginho
Maurizio Sarri took Jorginho with him from Napoli to Chelsea in 2018
GLI ORIUNDI
THERE IS A LONG HISTORY OF ITALY INTERNATIONALS BORN OUTSIDE OF THE PENINSULA, DATING BACK ALMOST 100 YEARS TO THE EARLY DAYS OF THE NATIONAL TEAM…
Raphael Toloi, right, is one of the three Azzurri players who were born in Brazil
BALLON D’ORGINHO
JORGINHO’S PERFORMANCES FOR CLUB AND COUNTRY HAVE SEEN HIM TOUTED AS A CONTENDER FOR THE ULTIMATE INDIVIDUAL PRIZE IN THE SPORT – BUT HE HAS SOME STRONG COMPETITION TOO…
The 2020-21 season followed the recent trend of no one player standing out as the clear winner of the Ballon d’Or. In 2018, this saw the decade-long duopoly of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi come to an end, with Luka Modric handed football’s biggest individual award after winning the Champions League with Real Madrid and reaching the World Cup final with Croatia. This has set a precedent in which the Ballon d’Or winner is closely correlated to the player with the most successful season, rather than with the best individual statistics. To simplify matters, a shortlist could be drawn from the winners of the Champions League, which this year was Chelsea. In a season of international tournaments, this list has been cross-checked with the winners of the European Championship and one name clearly stands out: Jorginho. The Chelsea midfielder played a key role in both teams’ success, also finishing as the Blues’ top scorer in the Premier League. Unfortunately for Italy’s No 8, he comes up against stiff competition to lift the Ballon d’Or. It comes as no surprise that Lionel Messi is the bookmakers’ favourite, having finally won his first ever major international tournament at this summer’s Copa America, not to mention the Copa del Rey with Barcelona. Another key contender is Robert Lewandowski, who undoubtedly would have taken the gong in 2020 had the award not been canceled. All in all, it looks unlikely that Jorginho will get the icing on the cake of such a stellar season. However, with two trophies to his name, it is now or never.
Winning both the Champions League and the Euro 2020 tournament has put Jorginho on the Ballon D’or shortlist
and interceptions. Offensively the Azzurri were similarly suited to Jorginho, with the midfield trio completed by mobile and industrious players in Nicolo Barella and Marco Verratti. These two operated further up the pitch but made themselves constantly available for short passes from their deeper-lying regista. Likewise, the use of an advanced leftback in Leonardo Spinazzola and then Emerson Palmieri created an out ball, meaning Jorginho’s passing game was never short of options. Unsurprisingly, the No 8 topped the passing stats for his team, coming second in overall passes for the competition. This setup is closely reflected in Chelsea’s play, particularly during their Champions League campaign. To paraphrase Steve Walsh, Jorginho played in a midfield three with N’Golo Kante either side of him, with Tuchel’s system using the Frenchman’s industry and ability to cover so much of the pitch to complement the Italian’s tempo-setting. Chelsea also fielded a deep-lying defence playing on the back foot for much of the competition. This suited the Blues No 5 to a tee, who once again led the team for defensive contributions throughout the tournament. Furthermore, Tuchel’s use of a back three meant that, as with Italy, there was rarely any space between Jorginho and the defence. Mirroring Italy’s set-up, the presence of Thiago Silva or Andreas Christensen gave Jorginho the confidence to step forward into a tackle without being bypassed, vastly improving his defensive stats. Likewise, the centre-backs’ physical presence compensated for his lack of heading ability, whilst Chelsea’s wing-backs matched Spinazzola’s role of offering an aerial option on the pass. Evidently, Jorginho has benefited from two systems that are built to suit him, as would any player. However, this is far from the only factor contributing to the player’s resurgence, and in fact the midfielder’s stats have remained remarkably consistent from back to his time at Napoli. Instead, it appears that time, combined with success on the pitch, has resulted in fans recognizing the true worth of the position in which Jorginho plays. A deep-lying midfielder whose role is to dictate play rather than disrupt it, is a far cry from the recent fashion in world football. The trend has moved away from the regista role perfected by Azzurri legend Andrea Pirlo, with modern midfields built on the bedrock of defensive midfielders in the ilk of a Casemiro or Kante. However, having taken over as Chelsea’s penalty taker in September 2019, Jorginho’s hopping technique drew attention to his ability on the ball. His success in the Champions League has been well documented but the Italian also played a key role in the Blues’ top-four finish and in reaching the FA Cup final. Despite missing a penalty in the Euro 2020 final, the midfielder scored the winner in the semifinals, further enhancing his reputation. Football can be fickle at times and when it comes down to it, lifting trophies and scoring goals makes the headlines. This season, as opposed to at any other time in his career, Jorginho has excelled in these two areas, winning the two most important competitions in Europe and finishing as his club’s top scorer in the league. These factors have put a spotlight on the midfielder and where so many others have failed, Jorginho has thrived in it, playing the best football of his career. Furthermore, this attention has allowed people to truly see the benefit of what has for a long time been an underrated position within the game, especially outside Italy. Rather than a renaissance, therefore, it is perhaps more apt to say that Jorginho is simply being recognized for what he has been doing for a long time. This has happened with other deep-lying playmakers such as Pirlo and Paul Scholes. His managers are showing their faith by building their teams around him, whilst fans are finally starting to appreciate one of the best midfielders in the world.
