Those of you still disappointed that we didn’t sign Declan Rice or Moises Caicedo may have to check your credentials at the door, for you are about to get bounced. Jorginho is not just another literal pensioner in the mold of Čech or Luiz or Willian, looking for a decent paycheck without the pressure of performing to the highest levels. I’m not here to say that Jorginho is the answer to our dependence on Partey, but I will suggest that he’s more than adequate to meeting our needs. He’s earned two consecutive MOTMs in our post-match polls, for one. He may not be able to do all the things that Partey does, but he’s shown in his three short stints since joining that he’s more than up to the task of deputizing for the oft-injured Ghanaian.
For one, Jorginho ain’t winning any footraces. That’s one glaring area where he comes up short in comparison to Partey. Like Xhaka, he makes up for his lack of pace with an unrelenting engine. He actually covers more ground per match than Partey has done (11.1km to 10.4km). As he’s aged, it seems as if Jorginho has learned the more-subtle arts of energy conservation and positioning, similar to how Mertesacker did. What he lacks in Parteysian pace (?), he more than makes up for with savvy positioning.
It’s not just that, though. At least three times, he played a ball through into space for Saka, such as the one you see to the right. This was just one of numerous line-breaking passes to our starboy, Jorginho also sluiced balls in behind for Tomiyasu and White to run onto. In addition, Partey has a tendency to stay central, which can limit his ability to pick out a pass to Saka or Martinelli operating from wider areas. Jorginho’s willingness to move laterally—despite his lack of pace—gives our attack dimensions we don’t have when Partey is playing as the #6.
In fact, Jorginho completed 15 progressive passes, the kind of passes that gets into the box or moves the ball at least ten yards closer to goal, excluding those that originate in our own half. That’s the highest number for any of our players all season—and Jorginho is still bedding in.
None of this is to suggest that Jorginho is a long-term successor to Partey. He is, after all, 31. However, he’s already shown himself to be a valuable short-term stopgap. Signed on a meagre £12m fee, he’s looking to be more and more the signing of the January window. By contrast, Mykhalo Mudryk, signed for a £62m fee or whatever chicanery Chelsea were able to pull off, has yet to make any real impact. Caicedo is still finding his way, and Rice soldiers on bravely but without much to show for his efforts. We could have splurged on one or both, spending £100m or more on one, but its hard to argue against the value we’ve gotten so far from what we spent to get Jorginho. With Saka getting support from an overlapping White or Tomiyasu, defenders have a harder time doubling up on Saka, and Jorginho has two targets to play through.
It’s not just the electric moments, such as when he decides to score by banging the ball off the crossbar and onto Emi Martinez’s head. Top bantz, that is, but it only scratches the surface. Before he could score that banger after all, we had to equalize. In one of those minor moments that only gets picked up by those who are not ball-watching, Jorginho gestured to Zinchenko to swap positions. The left-footed Zinchenko may have been better-suited to take advantage of half-clearances—and that is indeed what happened. The ball fell to Zinchenko just outside the 18, and he duly lashed it home. Jorginho contributed, in essence, by removing himself from the equation.
Is Jorginho good enough to lead us to the top of the Prem? Perhaps. Is he good enough to paper over our reliance on Partey until Partey is fit again? That is feeling more and more like a given. With news that Partey hasn’t been in training ahead of our trip to face Leicester on Saturday, it’s good to know that we have someone in Jorginho who can not only put in a shift but actually dictate play. He’s not a one-for-one swap for Partey, but he offers more than enough to compensate until Partey is fit. What’s more, he can also offer cover for Xhaka, allowing Arteta to rest two vital players as we continue to defend our position atop the table and prepare to progress deeper into Europa League play.
That’s a decent bit of business at £12m.