Chelsea: Three players the club needs to sell this summer
By Hugo Amaya
2. Jorginho
His presence on and off the field is unneeded. Chelsea finally has a full midfield of young, athletic and adaptable players—all of which are qualities Jorginho lacks on the pitch. While he can be used to control and calm the tempo of the game with his passes, that is just about all he brings to the table. Too often this season the Blues have found themselves in a position of urgency; and instead of feeding that need, Jorginho has simply made short passes back to his centerbacks.
Further, he tends to kill the team’s attack by making a pass to a player who is often under pressure. The most basic of skills in any footballer is to pass the ball to an open player. At the professional level, that means a player who has space or ability to create. Jorginho, in this regard, only passes to the player directly in front or beside him—aside from the occasional lob over the top of the defense. Such close-mindedness and inability to try new things make him a liability.
And yet, all of that pales in comparison to the absence of basic defensive skills in his arsenal. Jorginho is often the player to get yellow carded unnecessarily because he simply isn’t athletic enough to keep the pace. He often commits to trying to stop the opposition, even if the opponents have nowhere to go in the first place. This leads to silly yellow cards that put the team under increased pressure when defending; meaning that other players have to overcompensate for that mistake, otherwise the team could end playing with one player less.
These characteristics—or lack thereof—exemplify his lack of leadership skills and every game they prove true. Therefore, Chelsea and Frank Lampard must do all in their power to sell the Italian midfielder in order to fund other needed players. However, this task may prove more difficult given Sarri’s sacking in Turin.