Jorginho opts for Chelsea over City

Bengaluru, July 12: The never-ending saga of Chelsea wanting a new manager possibly took a conclusive end on Wednesday as the Blues have seemingly sealed the move for Maurizio Sarri. And the move comes with a bonus as well. Sarri is probably bringing in Europe's most coveted midfielder Jorginho with him to London.

Manchester City were favourites to sign Jorginho from Napoli before the World Cup. And with Italy not participating in the World Cup, the deal was easier to go through. Manchester City even lined up an initial £44million bid for Jorginho. After that was rejected City were willing to shell out more for him.

However, Napoli chief Aurelio De Laurentiis hinted that Manchester City might have been snubbed by the club to prefer a move to Chelsea. Speaking on the situation, De Laurentiis revealed: "These offers did not start from Chelsea, but from Manchester City.

"As a matter of fact, I will apologize to Khaldoon [Al Mubarak], because I found a deal with Khaldoon 15 days ago. He called me, we spoke on the phone and I said, 'Ok, I don't agree with you on A, B, C.'

"'Let's solve the situation the two of us', he told me. And we did it, we solved it. However, if for personal reasons I won't get into, the player prefers to live in London rather than in Manchester, I can understand him.

"If Chelsea pay him more, I can understand it too. So I can just apologize to Khaldoon. But it does not depend on me. If Jorginho moves to Chelsea, my agreement with [Roman] Abramovich does not depend on [Maurizio] Sarri becoming their next manager."

Chelsea and Napoli have been locked in negotiations all summer over ex-boss Sarri, who the Stamford Bridge club have long wanted to appoint to replace Antonio Conte as head coach. De Laurentiis also hinted that Sarri is indeed close to joining Chelsea.

He added: "Sarri is close to being new Chelsea manager. My lawyers are in talks with his lawyers to finalise everything."