1. A genuine goal threat: It is a good old cliche that goals from central midfielders are crucial to a team’s success and often go on to make all the difference when things go down to the wire. N’Golo Kante, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic are all quality midfielders in their own rights but what Chelsea currently lack is a genuine goal threat from the middle of the park.
Mason Mount has, of course, shown that he is more than capable of scoring goals and supplying assists and while Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s return will undoubtedly solve a lot of headaches for Lampard, one does get the feeling that the Blues need someone who encapsulates the qualities of a holding midfielder and a dymanic box-to-box ace.
Well, Miralem Pjanic could be the answer to that, as evident from his overall career tally of 73 goals in 511 appearances for Metz, Lyon, Juventus and Roma. Compare that to Jorginho’s overall career tally of 26 goals in 350 appearances and it hardly takes a rocket scientist to figure out that the arrival of Pjanic would add another dimension to Chelsea’s midfield.
2. Makes a lot of assists unlike Jorginho: As mentioned earlier in the post, Pjanic exhibits a wider spectrum of attributes as compared to Jorginho and scoring goals is not the only quality that puts the Bosnian international head and shoulders above the former Napoli star. Pjanic’s tally of 103 assists in 511 career appearances comfortably tops Jorginho’s numbers of 24 assists in 350 outings, something that clearly lies testament to the fact that the Juventus star would be a massive upgrade on the Italian in terms of creativity and vision.
Both are accurate passers of the ball and while there is not much to separate the two with respect to their pass accuracy rates, Pjanic seems to have a lot more end product to his passing as opposed to Jorginho, who is notorious for boring the spectators with his knack for slowing down the tempo with passes sideways and backwards.
3. Winning mentality and experience: Having clocked up over 500 career appearances in club football and a mammoth 92 international caps for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pjanic is arguably one of the most decorated central midfielders in Europe.
The 30-year-old has been an integral component of a Juventus side that has won three consecutive Serie A titles since the start of the 2016-17 season, with Pjanic looking very much at the top of his game to guide the Bianconeri to their fourth straight domestic triumph. As a matter of fact, Pjanic has made it to the Serie A Team of the Year in each of the past four seasons from 2015-16 to 2018-19 while he was also included in the Champions League Team of the Season in 2016-17.
Jorginho, on the other hand, is yet to win a single league title, with the 2013-14 Coppa Italia at Napoli and the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League at Chelsea being the only major pieces of silverware in his career so far. Hence, it is clear that Pjanic is a serial winner and a leader in the middle of the park, meaning that his experience at the highest level would hand a massive boost to a young Chelsea side, both on and off the pitch.
4. Free-kick specialist: Pjanic is widely acclaimed as one of the most accurate direct free-kick takers in Europe and according to statistics as of December 2018, the Bosnian ranked second, only behind Lionel Messi, among the most prolific free-kick takers in Europe’s top-5 leagues across the previous five seasons. The 30-year-old has netted 19 times from free-kicks in the Serie A and the Champions League for Roma and Juventus combined while Jorginho has only scored twice from free-kicks in 214 league games in his career so far.
5. Physicality: Pjanic might not be an absolute beast in the middle but the Bosnian certainly boasts better physical attributes than Jorginho, who has been criticised time and again for being pushed off the ball way too easily by the opposition. The Italian has proven to be a glaring misfit for the rough and tough nature of the English game and one does get the feeling that Pjanic would offer a lot more solidity in that regard.