Guardiola appears to have settled on his eventual replacement for Fernandinho

He's impressed Guardiola this season

Napoli have turned heads all over Europe this season. Maurizio Sarri's side have maintained a title challenge all season, playing scintillating football along the way. They now sit just one single point behind Juventus, and pose a genuine threat to Juve's monopoly of calcio.  This has been in no small part due to the role of Jorginho, Napoli's fulcrum in midfield. The Brazilian born Italy international is the player through whom many Napoli's attacks begin. While Allan and Marek Hamšik provide the legs and the creativity, Jorginho collects the ball from the defenders and plays line breaking passes, much like Fernandinho at Manchester City and Sergio Busquets at Barcelona. It should be no shock, then, that Pep Guardiola has been paying attention. It's been widely reported that Guardiola is eyeing up potential candidates to replace Fernandinho in the long-term, a player who Guardiola couldn't speak more highly of, but turns 33 next month. The Daily Mail are reporting that while Liverpool have been leading the race to sign the Napoli star, City have overtaken them and are now his most likely destination. The report states that City have held productive meetings with the player's representative, Joao Santos, and are optimistic of bringing him to the Etihad this summer. City can act quickly too, as Jorginho will not be playing in the World Cup as Italy failed to qualify. Jorginho's departure could be the first of many Napoli players to leave the San Paolo this summer. Dries Mertens, for example, has a release clause of €28m.