Arsenal star Jorginho makes telling admission on future plans as huge Edu decisions awaits
Jorginho has opened up on his plans for the future with his contract expiring at Arsenal at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.
Signed from Chelsea in January 2023, Jorginho has been a great addition to the Gunners squad since making the £12million switch to Emirates Stadium. Offering plenty of experience as well as quality in possession, Jorginho is yet to make an appearance this season but could start against Tottenham on Sunday due to Declan Rice being suspended and Martin Odegaard ruled out through injury.
It is a big year for the Italian as his current contract at Arsenal is due to expire on June 30, 2025. It remains to be seen whether the club offer him an extension, with Edu, Mikel Arteta and the player likely to sit down and discuss all options in the coming months.
Jorginho has already started planning for the future, however, as he has started the process of getting his coaching badges. While staying in football initially never interested him, the former Chelsea man has now admitted he could turn to coaching once he retires, whenever that may be.
“Because of how I am and how much I love my friends back home, my family, since I was 18 or 19 they’re like: ‘You’re gonna be a coach.’ I was like: ‘What? I have, like, 15 years to play. What are you talking about?’,” Jorginho said on the Seaman Says podcast, via Betway.
“Then the years passed, and I see how much a coach needs to work. I was like, ‘no way’. I know I want to be involved in football, of course, afterwards, but there is no hope that I will be a coach. No chance.
“Then I came to Arsenal and they asked me if I would like to do my badges. At the beginning I was like: ‘No, I don’t want to be a coach.’ They’re like: ‘Are you sure? Why not do it just to have it?’
“First session, I fell in love. I was like ‘Oh no, why did I do it? Now I’m in trouble.’ I think I will go for it. I think so. To be on the pitch and be with the players, it was so satisfying.
“When you see things coming out, working out the way you expected to. So good. Being on the pitch and actually seeing the potential there. It’s different. I think football is in a constant evolution and it’s going to be changing always. It’s never going to stop. It was different when I started, it was different in the middle, and when I’m going to finish, it’s going to be different.”
As of yet it is unclear whether Jorginho will remain at Arsenal beyond the 2024/25 season. The midfielder will be 33 when his current deal expires and both the club and player may see it as an ideal time to go separate ways. He would always be welcome back to Emirates Stadium, though, either as a spectator or even as a coach.
