Pep Guardiola compares Jorginho’s U-turn to Alexis Sanchez’s Manchester United switch

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted that Jorginho’s decision to join Chelsea this summer has been a blow to their transfer ambitions. City had a verbal agreement with the Italy international during the early stages of the transfer window but the Blues managed to hijack the deal after they offered him the chance to reunite with ex-Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri.

Speaking ahead of the Community Shield, Guardiola said that Jorginho has delivered a blow to their transfer ambitions and compared the situation with that of Alexis Sanchez last winter, he said: “The blow is that he [Jorginho] would rather be at Chelsea. We tried, we believe we were close but at the last turn he decided to go to Chelsea. The same thing with United and Alexis, so I have nothing else to say.”

Sanchez had reached a verbal agreement to join the Citizens in January after a summer agreement fell through but they could not finalise a transfer fee with the Gunners. As such, Manchester United hijacked the deal by offering Henrikh Mkhitaryan in a swap agreement and the Chilean has since been a regular starter for Jose Mourinho’s side.

As things stand, “City have made just one signing in the form of Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City but they could be some frantic activity “ before the transfer deadline, considering Guardiola is seemingly desperate to recruit a new central midfielder. According to reports, “both Marco Verratti and “ Mateo Kovacic have been associated with the position but they may need to come with a quick conclusion, given the Premier League transfer window concludes on August 9.

Guardiola focused largely on the academy players during the recent pre-season tour of the United States and he may have to utilise some of them for the Community Shield game versus Chelsea, considering most of the first-team regulars are yet to report after World Cup duty. Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne are some of the high-profile players expected to miss the Blues encounter.