Chelsea risk letting £36m slip through their fingers after Marina Granovskaia talks

Chelsea risk letting £36million slip through their fingers if Jorginho leaves the club when his contract expires next summer. Former transfer chief Marina Granovskaia reportedly held talks about the midfielder’s future under the Roman Abramovich regime, but no further talks have been forthcoming since Todd Boehly purchased the club at the end of May.

Jorginho joined Chelsea from Napoli in the summer of 2018 after the west Londoners shelled out an initial £50m to prise him away from the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. And he has since gone on to become a star player at the heart of Thomas Tuchel’s side.

The 30-year-old has racked-up 188 appearances for Chelsea and has bagged 26 goals and eight assists over the last four years. In 2021, he played the full 90 minutes as the Blues stunned Manchester City to win the Champions League. And at the end of last season, he was on the pitch for 120 minutes as his team were beaten by Liverpool in the FA Cup final following a penalty shootout.

But the Italy international’s influence in the capital diminished throughout the last campaign as he shared minutes with the likes of N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic in front of the backline. The ace failed to make it off the bench as Chelsea lifted the Club World Cup by beating Palmeiras in February and could only muster 14 minutes as his team lost to Liverpool in the final of the Carabao Cup two weeks later.

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The midfielder wants to stay at Chelsea beyond the end of his contract, with no concrete offers currently on the table to sign him. But the ace is attracting interest from Italy and there have been approaches for him.

Jorginho will be free to sign a pre-contract with an overseas club from the start of next year. And if he does walk away from Stamford Bridge, Chelsea will lose out on a hefty transfer fee. According to Transfermarkt, the player is worth £36m – and that’s a bundle of cash the Blues would surely prefer to have in their coffers.