Brazil coach Tite will be attending the Champions League fixture between Manchester City and Napoli on Tuesday, and his major task is clear. He knows all about Pep Guardiola's Selecao stars Gabriel Jesus, Fernandinho and Ederson, but now a new name is about to enter the frame ahead of the World Cup. Napoli midfield star Jorginho has always wanted to represent Italy, and yet he won't refuse an even more lucrative proposition.

"If Brazil call him up, he will accept it," Jorginho's agent, Joao Santos, said.

Most of the fans and pundits in Italy are furious over the potential loss of the best passer of the ball in Serie A. With the Azzurri desperately missing Andrea Pirlo, they know that Jorginho is the closest in style to the retiring maestro. Indeed, the Napoli metronome has beaten Pirlo's record for the most touches of the ball, setting it at 218 in the game versus Verona in 2015. Jorginho also completed the highest-ever number of passes in that fixture (182), and frequently goes close to matching that figure. Napoli's game virtually goes through him, and he is able to set the tempo and control everything. No player in Europe has completed more passes than him in 2017.

Jorginho: Has made more accurate passes (2024) than any other player in Europe's top 5 leagues in 2017 pic.twitter.com/5lhbk9lPP1 - WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) October 9, 2017

When asked about his most difficult opponent, Roma's Belgian star Radja Nainggolan replied: "I must name Jorginho, because it is very difficult to mark him out of action. He distributes the ball very quickly, and you get tired running after it. It takes a lot of energy to prevent him from executing his plan."

It is a huge honour to get such a compliment from the Ninja, and Jorginho proved himself versus Roma again this past Saturday as Napoli won 1-0 in a crucial game at the Olimpico.

And yet, Italy coaches bizarrely chose to ignore Jorginho's skills. Antonio Conte tried him twice as a substitute in friendlies, but controversially didn't include him in the squad for Euro 2016. Gian Piero Ventura went even further -- he openly declared that the star doesn't suit him in the slightest.

"Jorginho is a good player, but there is no space for him in our 4-2-4 formation," he said.

The thing is that Ventura's tactical plan didn't really work in recent World Cup qualifiers. Italy were thrashed 3-0 in Spain, couldn't beat Macedonia at home and had significant problems in narrow 1-0 wins over the likes of Israel and Albania. The criticism has been harsh, and even the coach's former assistant, Carlo Tebi, claimed that his friend is wrong: "Ventura thinks like a club coach. It is unthinkable to leave such a good player at home."

Jorginho wouldn't have had such problems if Giovanni Trappatoni had still been in charge of the national team. One of the greatest Italian coaches ever, Trappatoni spotted the midfielder's potential back in 2013 when he played for Verona.

"He has brilliant feet, can play in various positions on the pitch and is very smart," Trapattoni said, predicting a great future for the rising star.