Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has confirmed that Jorginho prefers a move to Chelsea over Manchester City this summer.
Manchester City identified the midfielder as their top target early in the summer and even agreed terms on a five-year contract with the player’s representatives.
Their difficulties in finalising an agreement with Napoli despite weeks of talks have allowed Chelsea to barge into the negotiations for the Italy international midfielder.
And it seems the Blues have taken over Manchester City in the pursuit of Jorginho and despite the Premier League champions seemingly having the midfielder in their bag, the Italian is now expected to join Chelsea.
De Laurentiis confirmed that the midfielder prefers a move to London over Manchester and also indicated that the Blues are offering more money to Jorginho than Pep Guardiola’s side.
The Napoli president said in a press conference: “While we consider him an excellent player for the style of [Carlo] Ancelotti and despite predicting the credibility of Chinese interest in [Marek] Hamsik, it was decided to listen to offers for him, starting with Manchester City.
“But we will have to apologise to them.
“The negotiations were closed 15 days ago and we were solving various issues, but the player prefers London over Manchester and I can understand that.
“Then if Chelsea are paying more, I can understand it even more and I cannot do anything.”
The Napoli supremo also added: “Jorginho at Chelsea doesn’t depend on [Maurizio] Sarri.”
De Laurentiis has also confirmed that Napoli are close to agreeing a deal with Chelsea for Maurizio Sarri.
