Very good short term option. 18 month deal and a further option leaves us in a good position to manage Jorginho’s future, and the squad long term too. Fully expect we’ll go in for Rice or Caciedo this Summer.

Time to get behind him.

Calmed down about it now - l was half asleep after a very hectic few days when I read it last night. Still not happy with the signing but it is what it is. Hope he can contribute but don't expect much. It feels more like a Wenger securing top 4 sort of signing than pushing for the title, but I never really believed a title was possible anyway.

Mostly annoyed that even though we're 1st and they are 10th, over 20 points behind and not likely to even be in Europe next season never mind CL, they are still getting our targets and we are essentially partially subsidising them doing so by taking their want-aways and trash. The bar is pretty low for taking Chelsea has-beens though so on the positive surely he can't be worse than Willian. Can he? Although I did think Willian couldn't be worse than Luiz.

I know Lokonga needs a loan but with Elneny out too we somehow seem shorter on numbers in midfield than we did before this window. Not much pace in a Xhaka-Jorghino central midfield I wouldn't have thought either.

Well he's a lot better than Elneny and should help in a penalty shootout.

  • goon replied to this.

    One game of his stands out to me and that was a recent performance of his at the shithole. He was able to control and dictate the match in quite advanced areas too.

    I’ll see if I can find highlights for ya

    Qwiss if Saka doesn’t let him take the pen we win vs Chelsea we should withdraw the contract offer.

      He’ll be great at feeding Odeegard in those spaces.

      J-2-0 - just like our favourite bottled juice drinks eh?!

        You can use that one tomorrow at work if you like Jimbo, Qwiss and Goon!

        His stats for this season are a lot down on previous years in terms of creative metrics likes passes, xA and so on. Hard to disentangle how much of that is due to a decline in ability versus playing in a struggling team. Some of his defensive stats such as completed tackles in the defensive third are way up which would point to the latter somewhat.

          Welcome to Arsenal FC, by far the greatest team the world has ever seen. Let's win the League.

          He’s a Elneny upgrade rather than a Partey one. I think he’ll be alright for us, he’s a good player. Past his best probably but he’s an intelligent player and think he will do a job when needed.

          We are one of the most compact sides in the league, especially when Zinchenko comes into midfield. So we should be able to help mask his mobility issues.

          I'm still underwhelmed but I admit I've never really watched him. I guess we're keeping our cash for Rice.

          If he helps us win the league though he'll be a hero so let's go Jorginho.

          There were a couple of things I was wary of when we were first linked to Jorginho - length of the contract, transfer fees, and his wages because they would eventually impactour ability to spend big on the midfield upgrade in the summer.

          However, signing him for 18 months is something I can live with even though he is another over-the-hill Chelsea surplus signing. The big difference with this signing compared to the others though is very clear. Each of the previous players we signed were for the first team and were expected to raise the ceiling of the team at that time. With Jorginho, he is being signed primarily as a back-up to raise the floor of the team. That is what this window has been about. I, like most of the Arsenal fans, am hardwired to hate him (Chelsea connection, antics on the field etc.) but no one can seriously state that he isn't streets ahead of Elneny and Sambi. He was the engine in a CL and Euros winning squad 18 months ago and while he has declined, he is still very useful and tidy, especially as a back-up.

          We have a maximum on 26 games left this season (19 in the league +7 in the EL if we go all the way) and if things work out, he won't even have to play more than 10. We just need to give him the EL games and if Partey is still in the red zone, Jorginho can easily come in and play against teams like Everton, Bournemouth, Palace etc. at home without us missing too much. Even games like Leeds and Soton away, where we struggled in the second half to control the game, I think he would be brilliant to come in and dictate the tempo.

          Overall, this is a low-risk, ready to go, floor raising signing that can propel us to the title. Especially considering the experience he will bring as well. I think people's dislike of him and our past experiences of signing Chelsea players is clouding the judgement of a lot of people.

          Just don't let him take penalties, that's all.

          P.S. - Welcome to The Arsenal, Jorginho.

            Another thing is that I think fans in general are scared shitless of losing Partey especially based on what happened last season after he got injured. But we are a completely different team now and our ability to cope without Partey this season is far better than last season.

            For instance, we beat Villa (albeit under Gerrard) and Fulham (currently 7th) at home without him and also dominated United at OT. The biggest aspect of Partey's game we missed last season when he was out was our ability to progress the ball and play between the lines. That is exactly what Jorginho's strength is. We lose out a little defensively in transition with Jorginho instead of Partey but we should still be good enough to beat 80% of the teams in the league.

            The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Not the long-term rebuild signing we wanted, but that can wait till the summer.

            Having in mind that Jorginho is plan b, short term signing, I think we couldn't do much better tbh.

            Good backup given the terrible options left after leaving CM as a secondary consideration until the second half of January. We could blame Arteta and Edu for that.

            He's much better than Elneny and will offer us great backup if Partey goes down. Plus we hold on to the real dosh for the summer.