Roberto Mancini has revealed Jorginho has left Italy's camp ahead of their match with Turkey, as he owed Chelsea a favour after the midfielder was rested in the FA Cup match against Middlesbrough ahead of the international break. The 30-year-old had been heavily relied on by Thomas Tuchel in recent weeks but was not included in squad that travelled to the Riverside.
The Chelsea star played 90 minutes as the Azzurri were knocked out of the World Cup qualification play-offs thanks to Aleksandar Trajkovski's late winner for North Macedonia. Jorginho was seen crying on the pitch following the match and claimed to be haunted by two penalty misses in the group stage which saw is side not qualify for Qatar automatically.
While the Italians defeated England to win EURO 2020 in the summer, his Blues teammate Mason Mount chose to send a message of condolence rather than poking fun with his teammate taking the result hard. Rumours of international retirement have quickly emerged.
READ MORE: Christian Pulisic makes USA argument to ensure Thomas Tuchel does not repeat Chelsea decision
Jorginho had trained with the national team following the defeat and was pictured jogging with the rest of the squad and hugging Team Manager Gabriele Oriali. However, he has since left the squad, though Mancini declared there was nothing nefarious about the decision.
Mancini said: “I want to clarify this. The players left and I obliged them to do so. If we can do something for them and for the clubs, we are happy to do it. They would have gone in the stands against Turkey. Some of them had physical problems, so they wouldn’t play anyway. We did it already. Some of them didn’t want to leave, but I told them to go.
“Chelsea didn’t play Jorginho in the FA Cup so we thought it was fair to send him back. Some others had physical issues,” he added. “This morning we have problems with Florenzi and Politano. It was useless to bring them with us. Lorenzo [Insigne] had a physical issue, which he also had at Napoli. Ciro wouldn’t have played. Mancini and Verratti had problems.”
