Manchester City still believe that Jorginho could move to the Etihad, despite Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis confirming that a deal has been reached with ?Chelsea.

The Premier League champions agreed a deal in principle with I Partenopei some two weeks ago, but the Blues appear to have hijacked the move and Jorginho has since been spotted boarding a flight to London.

This is thought to have come as a crushing blow to Pep Guardiola, who had made the midfielder his chief midfield target ahead of next season. 

Yet, according to Manchester Evening News journalist Stuart Brennan, City still expect that the Italy international could join them.

Brennan claims to have been told that De Laurentiis’ statement is a ‘ruse’ by club sources and that the deal is still on as Jorginho, so far, hasn’t indicated he intends to go back on his agreement.

“I will have to apologise to City because we had closed a deal 15 days ago. But the player likes to live in London over anything Manchester can offer,” De Laurentiis said on Wednesday.

“If Chelsea pay him more, that does not depend on me.”

Per Brennan’s report, City don’t believe that the player has even had contact from Chelsea and reckon the president’s comments were made in an effort to force him to move to Stamford Bridge.

With Maurizio Sarri close to being appointed Blues manager, it is understood that the FA Cup winners will part with £57m in order to get both Jorginho and Sarri on their books this summer.