Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has heaped praise on midfielder Jorginho for his attitude, leadership and quality.
The Italian international joined the Blues from Napoli last summer which reunited him with Maurizio Sarri. The 27-year-old made 54 appearances for Chelsea in his first season, scoring twice, against Huddersfield Town and Fulham. He helped them win the Europa League and was named the tournament’s Team of the Season.
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This season, Jorginho started both of the Blues’ matches, scoring a penalty in the Super Cup against Liverpool which eventually took the match to penalties. He converted his spot-kick but Chelsea lost 5-4 after Adrian kept out Tammy Abraham’s penalty.
Lampard praised Jorginho ahead of Chelsea’s match against Leicester City this afternoon, saying, as quoted by Goal: “I thought Jorginho was fantastic the other night. He was constantly talking to people around him and constantly talking to the back-line to drag them up and playing with quality.
“The players are the ones who drive that when they get out there. He is a fantastic player. I saw that on the first day of training in Dublin. Talking about his attitude, he is a driver of the group and he has real quality.
“I am fortunate in midfield at the moment. It gives us problems in terms of competition between Kante, Jorginho, [Matteo] Kovacic, [Ross] Barkley, [Mason] Mount, Ruben [Loftus-Cheek] is coming back and others. But Jorginho has really shown himself to be a top-quality player to me already. I am pleased to see his comments. He should be seen as Chelsea’s Jorginho.”
There is no doubt about the fact that Chelsea’s midfield is one of the best in the Premier League if not the best, at least on paper.
Jorginho may not have won everyone over yet in his time in English football, but his form in Serie A surely shows it’s worth being patient with him, and it seems he has Lampard’s confidence ahead of what everyone will hope is a better second season for him in west London.