5 Best performers among the summer signings: 2018/19

#3 Jorginho

Chelsea FC v Cardiff City - Premier League

When Chelsea replaced coach Antonio Conte with Maurizio Sarri, they also ensured that Sarri’s trump card accompanies him to Chelsea in the summer. Jorginho was Sarri’s secret weapon at Napoli and Abramovich played a brilliant trick in bringing in the duo from Napoli.

Jorginho is an unerring passer in the midfield and plays the controller role as good as anyone. Sarri’s vertically oriented play suits Jorginho well. He acts as cover for his centre-backs and has the precision to come up with through balls to open plays up. In the very first game for Chelsea, Jorginho displayed his passing ability. He completed a stupendous 158 passes, the most by any Chelsea player in a single game and complemented it with a goal.

Jorginho has settled into the deep-lying playmaker role and has pushed Kante to play a different role for the team. He is as intelligent off the ball, as he is on it. His positional play to stay away from man marking is commendable.

Jorginho has completed 853 passes for Chelsea in 8 games. It results in an average 100+ pass per game for the midfielder. Most of the passes are sideways which result in good build-up play. Jorginho has been sharp on the precision with about 91% of his passes being successful. In addition to the build-up play, Jorginho has been pivotal in the defence. He has made 6 interceptions in the 8 games in PL. Apart from that Jorginho helps Sarri in organising a shape for the team. He stays in the central part of the field and dictates terms for every player.

Jorginho has been good so far for Chelsea. To drive Kante out of the defensive midfielder role is no easy task. But Jorginho has succeeded in it and looks in firm control of the midfield in England.