3 reasons why Jorginho is a good signing for Chelsea

It's amazing how much a club's fortunes can change in a year. After celebrating Premier League success in 2016, Chelsea had a dismal 2017-2018 season.

Sure, they won the FA Cup but they failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League- the biggest European competition.

It's hard to pin down exactly where Chelsea went wrong. With that being said, some blame has to go to their recruitment process.

After winning the Premier League, a club is expected to add quality to their team through world-class signings. And honestly, apart from maybe Alvaro Morata, Chelsea did not add one 'world-class' player to their ranks.

Tiemoue Bakayoko was not a world-class signing. Danny Drinkwater struggled to make an impact. Olivier Giroud was a panic buy. Once Morata stopped banging in the goals and Batshuayi left the club, they desperately needed a striker and Giroud was available then looking for 'first-team' opportunities.

Davide Zappacosta and Emerson were good players who didn't get enough chances to prove that to their manager and the fans, alike.

Frankly, Ross Barkley didn't have the opportunity to make an impact in the first team, partly due to injury, after joining from Everton in January.

Antonio Rudiger, who they signed from AS Roma for an initial fee of £29 million was arguably their signing of the season.

Maybe because Serie A imports tend to be successful at Chelsea, they began their transfer season this year by bringing down Napoli's manager, Maurizio Sarri, to replace Antonio Conte as Chelsea's new manager.

Maurizio Sarri has signed a three-year deal at Chelsea. If he wishes to see the end of his contract or maybe even a contract extension, there's a lot that he has to do.

He has wasted no time in bringing in a player that he likes. Just hours after signing his Chelsea contract, Italian midfielder Jorginho penned a five-year deal with the Blues.

Before the World Cup began and even during it, Jorginho was heavily linked with a move to Manchester City. However, it's said that he preferred a move to Chelsea because he wanted to live in London.

Chelsea paid Napoli £57 million to secure his services. The sum looks lofty but is more-or-less justified. Jorginho is a great signing for Chelsea.

Here are three reasons why Jorginho will be a success at Chelsea.

#1 He thrives in Sarri's style of play

Chelsea Training Session — New Chelsea Recruits-Maurizio Sarri and Jorginho

Without Maurizio Sarri, Jorginho would not be the same player he is today. Sarri has played a key role in his overall development and Jorginho only knows this all too well.

In an interview conducted in 2015, Jorginho bluntly laid out what Sarri means to him.

"He is a great teacher and I admire his philosophy of the game a lot."

Hence, it shouldn't really come as a surprise that Jorginho rejected Pep's Manchester City to reunite with his former boss at Chelsea.

Chelsea is the biggest benefactor of this move. With Sarri's appointment, there's going to be a radical change in the way football is played at Chelsea. Sarri has an attacking approach to the game and the way he translates his philosophy to the Chelsea players is going to be extremely important.

The playmaker role is an important one in Sarri's 4-3-3 system and most likely, Jorginho is going to be deployed as the playmaker in this system. Sarri knows and trusts Jorginho. Likewise, after playing under him for three-years, Jorginho knows exactly what the manager wants and expects of him.

Furthermore, Jorginho's arrival will make it easier for Sarri to translate his philosophy to the other Chelsea players.

#2 He solves Chelsea's midfield problems

Chelsea did some terrible transfer business last season and its impact was seen on their dismal midfield performances.

Some still question why Chelsea broke their extremely successful midfield partnership of Matic and Kante by selling Matic to Manchester United.

They also loaned out a budding English prospect in Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and the players they bought in struggled to have an impact.

In those regards, Jorginho seems to be a breath of fresh air. He has all the attributes that make him the perfect midfielder.

His biggest strengths lie not in his physical prowess but in his technical ability. He's a quick reader of the game and an extremely intelligent footballer. He's a great passer and distributer off the ball. His presence is always felt on the pitch by the entire team. It's because of these traits that he possesses that he's likened to Andrea Pirlo.

Last year, he had the highest pass completion rate in the whole of Europe. In 2015, he broke Pirlo's record of having the most number of touches in a game. He also has the Serie A record for the most number of passes completed in a game since 2014-2015.

#3 His footballing prime is ahead of him.

A player's age is an extremely important factor to consider when buying a new player. Extremely young players take some time to fit into a squad while ageing players lack the longevity that clubs look for while signing a long-term prospect.

With that being said, Jorginho just turned 26 last year. He's not too young nor too old. He's just entered his footballing prime.

A footballer hits his prime between the age of 26-29. By signing him at this age, Chelsea have got themselves a mature footballer who's ready to fulfill all his potential.

Jorginho easily has a good four years of football ahead of him. Four years of prime football. In that respect, paying £57 million was not such a bad idea after all.

His maturity is bound to help Chelsea in the long-run.

Edited by Ben Winfield