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Jorginho

Flamengo midfielder
Date of Birth : 20 December, 1991 (Age 34)
Place of Birth : Imbituba, State of Santa Catarina, Brazil
Profession : Footballer
Nationality : Brazilian, Italian
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Jorge Luiz Frello Filho Cavaliere OMRI (জোর্জে লুইজ ফ্রেলো ফিলিয়ো), known as Jorginho, is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Flamengo. Born in Brazil, he represented 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 January 2014, he moved to Napoli, where he soon after won the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana. 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 for a fee of £12 million.

Early life

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.

International career

As Jorginho holds both Italian and Brazilian citizenship, he was eligible to play for both the Italian and Brazilian national teams. In 2012, he was called up for the first time for Italy U21, however; he did not play.

In 2014, Jorginho expressed his desire to represent Italy rather than Brazil internationally, and he received his first call up to the Italy senior squad in March 2016, under manager Antonio Conte, for the team's international friendlies against Spain and Germany. He made his international debut for Italy on 24 March, coming on as a last-minute substitute for Marco Parolo in a 1–1 draw against Spain at the Stadio Friuli in Udine. After initially being included in Conte's preliminary 30-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016, on 31 May, Jorginho was later excluded from the final 23-man squad.

Despite his positive club form for Napoli, Jorginho was not initially called up to the Italian side under Conte's successor, Gian Piero Ventura. Although rumours circled in the media regarding the possibility of Brazil's coach Tite calling Jorginho up to his squad in autumn 2017, as he had not yet appeared for Italy in a competitive match, Jorginho denied rumours that he wanted to switch to the Brazilian national team. He later made his first competitive appearance for Italy under manager Ventura in a 0–0 home draw against Sweden on 13 November, in the second leg of the 2018 FIFA World Cup play-offs against Sweden, at the San Siro in Milan; however, Italy's 1–0 away loss in the first leg on 10 November saw Sweden advance on aggregate, meaning that Italy had failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years.

Player profile

Style of play
Jorginho is known for his composure and versatility as a footballer, which allows him to be fielded in any midfield position. Due to his work-rate, technique, football intelligence, ability to break down possession, vision, and passing accuracy, he is usually deployed as central midfielder in a three-man midfield in a 4–3–3 formation. Although he is not imposing physically, due to his slender build and average height, he is also capable of playing both in a box-to-box role or in a defensive midfield role as a ball winner, courtesy of his tactical intelligence, positional sense, awareness, and ability to read the game, which enables him to cover ground, press opponents further up the pitch to retrieve the ball, intercept passes, and start attacking plays after winning back the ball. However, he usually operates in a more withdrawn creative role, as a deep-lying playmaker in front of the back-line, a position known as the regista role in Italian football jargon, which allows him more time on the ball to control the tempo of his team's play with his short, precise, horizontal passing game on the ground. Despite not being particularly quick and lacking significant pace, he is also known for his movement off the ball and ability to lose his markers, which allows him to find gaps from where he can receive his teammates' passes and link-up with them in tight spaces.

Reception
Jorginho's nicknamed 'Il Professore' ('The Professor,' in Italian) or 'Radio Jorginho' by the players of the Italian national team, in reference to his leadership and organizational qualities, as well as for the way he directs the team and continuously talks during games.

For his performances with Chelsea and the Italian team in the 2021 season, Jorginho won UEFA Player of the Year. His Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel described him as one of "the very best midfielders in the world."

Personal life

Jorginho married Natalia Leteri in 2017, with whom he has two children, a son and a daughter. They divorced in 2019. He has been in a relationship with stylist and former singer Catherine Harding since 2019. The couple have one son born in August 2020, and announced their engagement in December 2023.

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