Scouting Arsenal Transfer Target Jorginho

Arsenal may have one of their stronger squads for many years, but that doesn’t mean Arsene Wenger isn’t still on the lookout for potential improvements. In the last few days of the window, rumours have circulated that he has an interest in Napoli midfielder Jorginho.

It’s a little surprising to hear that Wenger is in the market at all. Having completed the signing of Mohamed Elneny from Basel, many assumed that Arsenal’s business was done and dusted. 

However, while the Gunners boss has stressed that adding new personnel is not a priority, he has also hinted he could be swayed by a golden opportunity.

Per Hamish Mackay of the Mirror, Wenger said: "You will certainly over the next 10 days have some work to do, but not especially with Arsenal. We are always open to the exceptional cases. At the moment I expect our last 10 days [of the transfer window] to be quiet."

Perhaps Wenger deems Jorginho to be one such “exceptional” case. A Tuttomercatoweb report in Italy (h/t Tom Maston of Goal) suggests Arsenal have now had a formal bid for the player rebuffed.

It’s easy to see why Jorginho has caught Wenger’s eye. He’s been an instrumental figure as Napoli have stormed to the top of Serie A. 

Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images

Central midfield is an area where Arsenal could certainly improve. Their last Premier League game was against Chelsea, and it will have distressed the watching Gunners fans to see the middle of the park dominated by the out-of-form pair of Nemanja Matic and John Obi Mikel.

In the calendar year of 2015, Arsenal were largely able to rely on the delicately balanced pairing of Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla. However, since both those players were sidelined back in November, Wenger has had to muddle through with Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini. That pairing appears to be dysfunctional—neither player has the necessary positional discipline to make the double-pivot work.

Both Ramsey and Flamini are attracted to the ball, and against Chelsea, both found themselves appearing too often in the opponents’ penalty area. A sense of adventure is to be encouraged in certain areas, but it also risks leaving the back four exposed.

Arsenal fans hoped Wenger had addressed the midfield situation by recruiting Elneny. However, despite being eligible for the Premier League games with both Stoke City and Chelsea, he has yet to play a single minute for the Gunners.

There’s mounting concern that the Egypt international will not be ready to adapt to the demands of elite English football as soon as hoped. Arsenal needed a player who could come in and improve them immediately, not simply another body.

Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images

Jorginho would surely fit that bill. He is blessed with wonderful technical ability and is an astute distributor of the ball. However, he also possesses a fierce tactical intelligence. The 24-year-old is a strategist on the field, rarely overcommitting. He takes a considered, thoughtful approach to midfield play.

In many ways, he is is the product of his upbringing. Jorginho is originally from Brazil, and he plays with the confidence and technical bravado associated with the land of his birth.

However, as a child he moved to Europe, and he has since declared himself eligible to represent Italy. There is plenty of Italian football culture in the way Jorginho elegantly patrols the middle of the park, combining poised positional play with a healthy cynicism. He is a natural fusion of the best attributes of the two major footballing nations in his life.

It’s easy enough to see how he’d slot into the Arsenal squad. The midfield is going through a necessary rebuilding phase.

Come the summer, Flamini, Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky will all be out of contract. Given their limited contributions this season, it’s difficult to see any of that trio being offered a renewal.

What’s more, Wenger may face a decision to make on the talented but luckless Jack Wilshere. If he does not return to regular football between now and May, it may be time for Wenger to cut his losses on the academy product.

By signing Elneny, Wenger seems to have already taken steps to replace Flamini. The two share boundless energy and enthusiasm and are both capable of playing either as a holding midfielder or box-to-box player.

Getty Images/Getty Images

Jorginho could be a very neat replacement for Arteta. Like Arsenal’s club captain, he is well suited to playing in that deep-lying pair, picking the ball up off the back four and instigating attacking moves.

With a more physical ball-winner alongside him such as Coquelin, he has the intelligence and skill to dominate the midfield. This season, Arsenal have occasionally missed Arteta’s ability to slow the play down and dictate the tempo. Jorginho’s presence could assuage that problem.

It wouldn’t be easy to pry him away from Napoli. Jorginho signed a new deal on improved terms shortly before Christmas, so getting him to leave his club just a month later has always seemed like something of a pipe dream. There’s not been any word about a release clause inserted into the deal, so the selling club are in a strong position.

What’s more, Napoli are not exactly keen to weaken a side with a great chance of winning Serie A this season. That would be a massive achievement, especially given Juventus’ dominance in recent seasons. To weaken the squad halfway through what could prove to be a historic campaign would be lunacy.

Wenger may regard Jorginho as an exceptional player, but it would also take a fairly exceptional set of circumstances for him to move in January. The likelihood is that this is a case that will have to be revisited in the summer.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.