Arsenal
are close to agreeing a £12m deal with Chelsea for midfielder Jorginho.
The 31-year-old midfielder is expected to sign an 18-month contract, with an
option to extend for a further year.
The Italian is into the final six months of his Chelsea contract and the
Blues are trying to land a British record transfer for Benfica central
midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
Arsenal have seen two bids for Brighton's Moises Caicedo rejected, with the
second one amounting to £70m, and remain keen on the Ecuador international
and ready to do a deal, should the South Coast side change their stance.
Meanwhile, according to reports on Tuesday, Arsenal are in talks with
Crystal Palace over a loan deal for Sambi Lokonga.
Under Mikel Arteta, Arsenal tried to sign Jorginho in the summer of 2020,
the year before the midfielder won the Champions League and European
Championships with Italy.
Arteta was also the assistant coach at Manchester City when they tried to
sign him in 2018 - but Jorginho turned down the move to join Maurizio Sarri
instead at Chelsea from Napoli.
Arsenal are short on options in midfield and revealed on Deadline Day that
Egypt international Mohamed Elneny has suffered a "significant" knee injury.
A club statement read: "Following an injury sustained in a recent training
session, subsequent assessments have confirmed that Mohamed Elneny has a
significant injury to his right knee.
"Mo has had successful surgery in London and will be ruled out for an
extended period of time. A more detailed timescale will be established once
the early stages of rehabilitation have been completed.
"Everyone at the club will be offering Mo all the support he needs and
working hard with him so he can return to action as soon as possible.
Analysis: Carragher and Merson positive on
Jorginho move
Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher:
"Arsenal have gone for [Moises] Caicedo, but maybe they cannot get that done
from Brighton, so they have gone for Jorginho, who is an interesting one. I
can totally understand it, but I was listening to people talk about it
today, and he is not the sort of style for Arsenal's play, which is so
quick, fast and energetic now and he is the opposite of that and I get that
argument.
"But I also think that with maybe 10 games to go in the season, when they
might actually need cool heads, when there is a pressure moment and the
nerves are coming on in that title run in with seven or eight games to go,
he may actually be a really good signing in terms of slowing things down
with a cool head. He is a player that has won the Champions League, he has
won a European Championship in the last few years, so he is a top player,
there is no doubt about that, but he is a different style of player.
"But I am not saying that is for Arsenal week in, week out forever, but I
think that could be a big help for them towards the end of the season as
they get nervous."
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