“I accepted Arteta’s call” – Player on Arsenal’s swift efforts to sign him, manager key in process

Jorginho has made three appearances for Arsenal since he arrived at the Emirates from Chelsea on the last day of the winter market.

The midfielder saw the Gunners suffer losses in his first two outings for them. A late goal helped them seal three points against Aston Villa last weekend and the result saw Arsenal regain the top spot in the table.

Jorginho appeared as a guest on DAZN Italia’s Supertele, where he detailed the reasons for leaving Chelsea for Arsenal, and the role Mikel Arteta played in convincing him to join the Premier League leaders.

“One of the reasons for my move to Arsenal is the presence of Arteta. He called me and in less than two days we did everything,” he said.

“I was no longer part of Chelsea’s plans and I accepted Arteta’s call… the coach’s technical project suited my characteristics perfectly.”

The Brazil-born Italy international talked about Arsenal’s defeat against Manchester City earlier this month and also about the Gunners’ season so far.

“We are very happy, we are one of the big names in the Premier League. I’m very happy to have this experience with the Gunners, then in the end we’ll see what happens. Of course, I really believe in winning the championship,” Jorginho explained.

“Against Manchester City, we had chances and we didn’t take them, while we were punished with their chances. I came out of that match more convinced of our strengths because we forced City to throw longs [long ball] from their own box. We were sad about the result, but also calm and confident about the good things done.”

Arsenal are leading the table with 54 points, two points ahead of second placed City and five ahead of third placed Manchester United. Arteta’s side have a game in hand.

Like Arsenal, the 31-year-old’s former club, Napoli, are leading the league table in Italy. When discussing the similarities between the two clubs, Jorginho has warned the Gunners not to ignore Erik ten Hag’s side in the title race.

“There can be parallelism. At the start of the championship, no one would have bet on these two teams. It will be a bit more difficult for Arsenal to win the championship, we will also have to pay attention to Manchester United,” Jorginho concluded.