Diogo Jota has scored seven goals since he transferred from Wolves to Liverpool, taking the Premier League and Champions League by storm.
To many, it’s come as a surprise, but not to the player himself, nor his former coach, Jorge Simao, who worked with our no.18 at Pacos de Ferriera in Portugal.
Simon Hughes recently interviewed Simao in The Athletic, who explained the text Jota sent to him upon completion of his Liverpool move a few months back…
“Nobody does what Jota is doing now without having real ambition,” Simao began.
“When he signed for Porto [in 2016], I told a Portuguese website that, for me, Jota would be the successor to Cristiano Ronaldo.
“Obviously, that was quite a big claim to make at that time, because Jota had only played for Pacos and had not had a good time at Atletico Madrid.
“When Jota signed for Liverpool, I sent him a message to congratulate him. He replied, five seconds later, with a link to that old article about him and Ronaldo.
“It was the very first thing he sent! He must have had it bookmarked. Incredible! He hadn’t forgotten.”
With Mo Salah absent from the game v Leicester on Sunday due to his repeated positive coronavirus tests, Jota is a certainty to start in the front-three.
We think it’s most likely that Sadio Mane will keep his spot on the left, Roberto Firmino will play centrally and Jota will begin in Salah’s role on the right.
For us, he’s actually better on the left or centrally, but reckon Jurgen Klopp will allow the trio to interchange positions throughout as we look for gaps in Brendan Rodgers’ backline.
Let’s hope Jota can pick up from where left off before the international break.