Liverpool have had some horrendous luck this season. It’s been nothing short of ridiculous in terms of injuries and VAR – but at least we unearthed the signing of the summer before it began.
Many would have assumed this would have been Thiago – the world-class Spaniard we acquired from Bayern Munich – but sadly the 29-year-old has barely played for us and won’t until the New Year due to a knee injury which just isn’t getting better.
In fact, at the time, Diogo Jota’s transfer almost went unnoticed, due to the excitement about Thiago, but of the three signings we made in September, the Portuguese is the one on everyone’s lips.
Jurgen Klopp has explained how the 23-year-old has been on our radar for many years – and he’s been waiting for an opportunity to pounce ever since!
Speaking to UEFA, the Liverpool manager said: “Diogo, I liked, honestly, from the first game I saw him playing for Wolves. That’s how it is.
“He had no idea about that, obviously, but for me it was always clear that when he was kind of in reach, I would go for him because he’s very, very interesting and had an exciting career so far: what he did, where he’s come from, the moves he made, bam bam bam.
“I liked the discipline he showed, plus the creativity he showed, plus the desire he showed. And his skills are pretty good anyway, so I got a lot of good signs before we signed him that it could work out.”
“He has settled in nicely, that is true. It is very important for us because we cannot play our usual front three all the time all season.
“It’s difficult to improve things but it looks like he can do that so I am really happy about that.”
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Many believed Jota was a gamble considering we paid over £40m for him, but it’s looking like one that has unequivocally paid off.
With nine goals so far, the former Wolves attacker has actually outscored Lionel Messi in all competitions.
That’s not bad for someone who was assumed to be a substitute upon arrival.
Next up for the Reds it’s Wolves on Sunday night, following the excellent midweek win over Ajax.
Jota’s former team includes attackers like Pedro Neto, Adama Traore and Daniel Podence – three wingers who were doing so well in 2019/20 that Jota actually couldn’t get into Nuno Espirito Santo’s team!
But just a few months later, Jota has arguably surpassed them all and would be ranked even higher than Traore, who has incredible physical traits and was one of the most talked about players of last season.
Liverpool will be at an advantage on Sunday in that Raul Jimenez will be out with the nasty head injury he picked up v Arsenal, but it’s not like we haven’t got our own injuries to worry about…
Alisson, Trent, VVD, Gomez, Keita, Thiago, Shaq and Ox will still be out.