Chelsea 'involvement' in holding up Man City deal for Jorginho

Manchester City are expecting to complete a deal for Napoli midfielder Jorginho, but there are reports of Chelsea's involvement in negotiations

The delay in Manchester City announcing the signing of Jorginho has led to speculation in Italy that Chelsea could yet hijack the deal.

The Blues have been involved in negotiations over the summer for the Napoli midfielder after Pep Guardiola identified him as they man to replace Yaya Toure and eventually succeed Fernandinho in the team at the Etihad.

It has taken time for an agreed fee to be reached the two clubs, who were at one point £20m apart on their valuation of the player .

After weeks of little happening, it seemed as though there was significant progress in the deal over the last week and there is expectation that City will complete the signing.

However, the fact that the deal is still not official has raised the prospect that Chelsea could yet play a critical part in any transfer.

Roman Abramovich is looking to get a new manager installed at Stamford Bridge (although he wil lhave to get rid of Antonio Conte first) and former Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri - still, bizarrely, under contract with the Serie A runners-up - is thought to be the favourite for the job.

Corriere Dello Sport surmise that Jorginho must be a discussion point between Sarri, Chelsea, and Napoli for the midfielder not to have been confirmed as a City player by now.

And CalcioMercato suggest that Abramovich could bypass the large release clause demanded for Sarri by offering Napoli more to make Jorginho a Chelsea player than City have been willing to offer.