Man City furious with Napoli and do NOT think Jorginho deal is off despite president claims he is joining Chelsea
Premier League champions left stunned when president Aurelio de Laurentiis revealed the midfielder is off to Stamford Bridge
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MANCHESTER CITY are furious with Napoli after they announced long-term target Jorginho will join Chelsea.
The Premier League champions were stunned when president Aurelio de Laurentiis announced the player was bound for Stamford Bridge.
He claimed the £51million-rated ace had decided on the move because he preferred to live in London rather than Manchester.
But City believe Jorginho is being used as a pawn in the agreement which will see Mauricio Sarri take over at Chelsea.
Etihad sources say the midfielder, 26, told his current club two months ago that he wanted to go and play for Pep Guardiola at City.
An outline agreement between the two clubs was reached a fortnight ago - but Napoli have since thrown a series of obstacles in the way of completing.
The feeling at City is that Napoli are trying to force Jorginho to go to Chelsea to smooth over negotiations over Sarri.
They will now wait for Jorginho himself to confirm to them he has had a change of heart before switching their attention elsewhere.
Earlier de Laurenttis had revealed the player had decided on Chelsea - after footage showed him boarding a plane to London.
The Napoli supremo said: "These offers did not start from Chelsea, but from Manchester City.
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"As a matter of fact, I will apologise to Khaldoon [Al Mubarak], because I found a deal with Khaldoon 15 days ago,
"He called me, we spoke on the phone and I said, 'ok, I don't agree with yours on A, B, C'. 'Let's solve the situation the two of us', he told me. And we did it, we solved it.
"However, if for personal reasons I won't get into, the player prefers to live in London rather than in Manchester, I can understand him.
"If Chelsea pay him more, I can understand it too. So I can just apologise to Khaldoon.
"But it does not depend on me. If Jorginho moves to Chelsea, my agreement with Abramovich does not depend on Sarri becoming their next manager."