'I hope to see you' - Jorginho tried to persuade his new Arsenal teammate to change international allegiance to Italy

Former Chelsea star Jorginho once attempted to persuade one of his new Arsenal teammates to change international allegiance to the Italy national team.

Arsenal signed Jorginho from London rivals Chelsea on deadline day in a £12m deal after failing to lure Moises Caicedo from Brighton.

The Gunners were linked with the 21-year-old Caicedo and reportedly submitted a £60m bid, but Brighton rejected the offer from Arsenal.

Jorginho inked a deal with the Gunners until 2024 after spending four-and-a-half seasons at Chelsea.

The 31-year-old ex-Chelsea midfielder was born in Brazil and was eligible to play for the five-time World Cup champions.

However, Jorginho opted to represent Italy for his senior career and lifted his first major piece of international silverware at Euro 2020 in 2021.

Gabriel Martinelli revealed that Jorginho once tempted him to make a similar international allegiance decision.

The 21-year-old Arsenal forward, much like Jorginho, is Brazil-born and holds dual Brazilian-Italian citizenship.

Martinelli went on to represent Brazil Under-23s before he broke into the senior team, but no official from the Italian Football Federation ever tempted him to switch allegiance.

Alamy

“No one spoke to me, only Jorginho once said to me, ‘I hope to see you in March,’ something like that. But no-one [official] spoke to me, no,” he told Brazilian outlet Globo Esporte in 2022.

“As I’ve said before, my dream was always to play for Brazil. I was just waiting for the opportunity to play for Brazil.”

Jorginho previously admitted that it was a “difficult” decision to declare his national playing career to Italy over Brazil.

“I’ll be honest, they were difficult days for me, but also wonderful ones,” he said in 2017.

“Having a choice like that, which is so important for your life and career, is not easy.

“Up until a month ago, I had no hope of getting a Brazil call and wasn’t even considering it.

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“Then they rang and said they were observing me, so it was impossible to just ignore that. It’s still Brazil and it’s still where I was born.

“My head was spinning for a couple of days, but I made my decision and I do not regret it.

“I am very happy to play for Italy, I hope to bring great joy to the fans, as I love this country.”