Fabrizio Romano issues update on Arsenal exit links amid agent's 'contact me' admission

Jorginho continues to face an uncertain future amid a struggle for game time this season. The Italy international has made only two league appearances so far, with Thomas Partey preferred in the early stages of the season.

To make matters worse, the return of new signing Mikel Merino from injury is likely to mean Jorginho struggles even more for minutes, and that could have an impact on Arsenal’s decision when it comes to his new contract. The veteran midfielder is out of contract in the summer, but the Gunners have a one-year extension option.

Whether Jorginho has a future at the club or not, it may well be financially prudent to trigger that option given Arsenal can then ask for a fee from any buying club, even if it is a small one, whereas failure to trigger the contract would allow Jorginho to agree a pre-contract agreement with any club outside England from January 1, eventually leaving for free.

The midfielder was linked with a move back in the summer, and his outspoken agent, Joao Santos, told Tutto Mercato that a deal could be done involving Juventus at some point. He said: “In my opinion, they don’t need a player like Jorginho. If Giuntoli (Juventus owner) ever needed a midfielder like Jorginho, though, he can always contact me.”

The latest round of rumours suggest that there is interest from Saudi Arabia in Jorginho, but transfer ‘insider’ Fabrizio Romano has suggested that the Italian is not currently considering an exit. “The situation is that Jorginho is only thinking about this season, playing down the rumours. It’s an important season for Arsenal, I don’t think all these links for Jorgi, Saliba etc are genuine and are good for the club…it’s only the beginning of October, the season started just 50 days ago,” he said on CaughtOffside. “Jorginho’s full focus is on present, on Arsenal, not on moving into coaching and not on making the move to Saudi.”

Jorginho a huge fan of Arteta

Jorginho has spoken about Arteta in glowing terms on multiple occasions, and in his most recent press appearance, he said: “The mentality now is different because you can see the hunger of wanting to win. The way you train every day, the information you have - even pictures at the training ground. Everything’s about winning.

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“It’s really good as Mikel put up all these messages you see. It gets into your mind when you keep seeing them and you start to believe it. Then you get into the habit. You have the motivation and all we want to do is win.”