When Jorginho was sold by Chelsea at the end of the January window, it was somewhat surprising, given how quickly it happened.
His contract was up this summer, so we understand the need to get a fee for him while we still could. But the loss of his specific skillset on the pitch has been clear to see in some of the performances since then, and his loss in the dressing room seems to have been even more important.
The Athletic’s thrilling piece about how it all went down claims it was a major blow to the already tenuous dressing room harmony. They call it a “significant blow” to the atmosphere, and say he was a “popular figure” who could “converse in all languages.”
It’s just another reminder, as if it was needed, that real life football is not FIFA, where one can just chuck together good players and watch the magic happen. These are real people with personalities, lives and thoughts, and things can be disrupted easily.
I think there’s certainly truth in your last paragraph, SuperFrank (that teams are more made up of people and their personalities and not just their physical attributes), and so I find it ironic that you, as well as many, many supporters, are ever so quick to call for this player or that player to be bought or sold SOLELY based on their performances on the pitch, lol! The rush to judgement (e.g., that a player like Pulisic or Ziyech MUST GO!) is often so loud and so strenuous and yet we generally see only a sliver of what any one player brings to the squad in terms of the dressing room or the training ground. We’d all do well to remember this the next time we’re tempted to assert that player X or Y absolutely must be bought or sold.
I, for one, still thinking selling Jorginho was a smart business move and don’t think the loss of his services, or whatever chemistry he brought to the squad, was decisive this year. We would have struggled even with him because this was always going to be a rebuilding year and he was never going to be a part of the long-term picture. The only thing I would say is that we’ll run clubs take into account when they lose a “glue guy” and generally try to bring in personalities that will help restore/maintain chemistry. Hopefully this is something the new sporting directors will be attentive to going forward.