Arsenal produced a fine performance to beat Newcastle yesterday as January signing Jorginho showed his true worth to the club.
Thrown in of late ahead of Thomas Partey, Jorginho delivered a midfield masterclass against the Toon. In the middle of the park, he showed a composure and quality that fully justified Mikel Arteta’s decision to sign him in January.
The experienced Italian midfielder was signed for just £12m after Arsenal missed out on Moises Caicedo.
And speaking on BBC’s MOTD2 last night, former Tottenham forward Jermain Defoe believes Jorginho’s performance was probably under-appreciated by many.
“He was fantastic today. Probably man of the match. I think that sort of performance goes under the radar a bit and people don’t really appreciate that sort of performance,” Defoe said.
“It wasn’t just playing sideways and backwards either. It was being effective with your passes, passing with a purpose. When you look at the stats, energy levels, distance covered. I thought he was really really good and he’s a key player who’s got his chance and he’s definitely taken it.”
Jorginho now looks set to keep his place until the end of the season. For Partey, it will be a case of being patient and waiting for his next chance.
TBR’s View: Jorginho was always going to quality
There was an air of disappointment among some fans when Jorginho signed. Some felt he was a second-rate signing compared to Caicedo.
But actually, what Arsenal were signing was a player made for the big occasion. Experience is priceless at times and Jorginho brought that in abundance yesterday.
Jorginho – who earns around £100k-a-week – looked like a world class player on the biggest stage yesterday. Gary Neville compared him to Paul Scholes and in a way, he was bang on in his comparison.
If the former Chelsea man can keep this form up, then the title race might just still have some life left in it.