Jorginho

Jorge Luiz Frello Filho (born 20 December 1991), known as Jorginho, is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Arsenal and the Italy national team.

Born in Brazil, Jorginho moved to Italy at the age of 15, and began his professional career with the Hellas Verona youth team, before being promoted to the senior team.

During the 2010–11 season, he was sent on loan to Sambonifacese.

In June 2010, Jorginho was loaned out to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione club Sambonifacese, where he played his first full senior season for the Veneto club – appearing 31 times and scoring one goal whilst providing ten assists from his central midfield position.

He made his Verona debut on 4 September 2011, in a match against Sassuolo as a substitute in the 76th minute.

In January 2014, he moved to Napoli, where he soon after won the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana.

On 18 January 2014, he joined Napoli in a co-ownership deal with Verona for four and a half years.

On 12 February, he scored the last goal as Napoli overturned a 3–2 first-leg deficit to beat Roma and reach the 2014 Coppa Italia Final.

In the final, on 3 May, Jorginho played the full 90 minutes as Napoli defeated Fiorentina 3–1.

In the 2014 Supercoppa Italiana in Doha on 22 December 2014, Jorginho entered the game against Juventus in the second half of extra time in place of Jonathan de Guzmán.

He took Napoli's first spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out, and although Gianluigi Buffon saved it, Napoli were eventually victorious.

While initially struggling to get into manager Rafael Benítez's line-up, Jorginho's fortunes changed with the appointment of Maurizio Sarri who was key to his development, deploying him in a deep-lying midfield role from which he could dictate play with his passing.

At international level, he has represented Italy, making his senior debut in 2016, while his competitive debut came the following year.

In 2017–18, Jorginho had a breakthrough season with Napoli and was integral to their Serie A title challenge.

He totalled 160 games for the club before signing for Chelsea in 2018, where he won the UEFA Europa League in his first season, followed by the UEFA Champions League during the 2020–21 season.

After four and a half years at Chelsea, Jorginho joined Arsenal in 2023.

On 14 July 2018, Jorginho signed for English team Chelsea on a five-year contract on the same day as Sarri was hired at the club.

He joined for an initial transfer fee of £50 million, potentially rising to £57 million in add-ons.

According to Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis, he was previously close to joining Manchester City.

Jorginho made his debut on 5 August in the 2018 FA Community Shield at Wembley Stadium against that very opponent, and was booed by City fans in Chelsea's 2–0 loss.

Six days later, he played his first Premier League match, in which he scored a penalty in a 3–0 win at Huddersfield Town.

In Chelsea's third league match of the campaign, a 2–1 win away at Newcastle United, Jorginho completed 158 passes, which was a new record for most successful passes by a Chelsea player in a single match in the Premier League, and the second all-time in the league, behind İlkay Gündoğan's 167 completed passes for Manchester City against Chelsea from the prior season.

Jorginho went on to break the attempted passes record in Chelsea's sixth league match of the season on 23 September, attempting 180 passes in a 0–0 draw away at West Ham United, breaking the record of 173 attempted passes again set by Gündoğan in the same Manchester City–Chelsea match the year before.

On 24 February 2019, following a 0–0 draw after extra-time in the 2019 EFL Cup final against cup holders Manchester City, Jorginho missed Chelsea's first penalty in the resulting shoot-out, which ultimately saw Manchester City triumph 4–3.

On 29 May, Jorginho featured in Chelsea's 4–1 victory over Arsenal in the 2019 UEFA Europa League final.

In the 2019 UEFA Super Cup against Liverpool on 14 August, Jorginho scored the equalising goal from the penalty spot in extra-time an eventual 2–2 draw.

The match subsequently went to a penalty shoot-out; although Jorginho was able to net Chelsea's first penalty, Liverpool ultimately won the shoot-out 5–4.

He scored his first league goal of the season, also from the penalty spot, in a 2–0 home win over Brighton & Hove Albion on 28 September.

On 5 November, he scored twice from the penalty spot as Chelsea came from behind to earn a 4–4 home draw against Ajax in the Champions League.

Jorginho scored Chelsea's first goal of the season from the penalty spot in an eventual 3–1 league win against Brighton & Hove Albion on 14 September at Falmer Stadium.

On 20 September, Jorginho missed his first penalty for Chelsea in the same match in which he made his 100th appearance for the club; the game ended 2–0 to Liverpool.

He was part of the Italy squad which won UEFA Euro 2020, and was named in the Team of the Tournament for his performances.

In 2021, he was named UEFA Men's Player of the Year (only Italian player to ever win the award) and placed third in the Ballon d'Or.

Jorginho was born in Imbituba in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina but moved to Italy at the age of 15.

He is of Italian descent through his paternal great-grandfather Giacomo Frello who is from Lusiana, Veneto, and thus earned Italian citizenship as a result.

He has credited his mother with encouraging his love of football.

After discovering that he was being financially exploited by his agent while playing for the Verona youth team, Jorginho almost quit the game and wanted to move back to Brazil, but credits an emotional phone call with his mother for inspiring him to persist and continue playing.

His childhood idol was Romanian player Gheorghe Hagi, which led to his friends nicknaming him Haginho.

He was also inspired by Ronaldo Nazario, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Andrea Pirlo and Xavi.

Jorginho was a youth player of Hellas Verona.