Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I LIKE JOTA A LOTTA
Klopp knew Diogo was his perfect player but he’s blown away by his incredible complete package
JURGEN KLOPP always thought Diogo Jota would be his type of player – but even the Liverpool boss has been amazed by his first 16 months at Anfield.
Jota, who moved to Merseyside in September 2020 for £41million, has been a revelation in the Liverpool front-line.
He has scored 22 goals for the Reds already and has offered Klopp another dimension to his attacking trio of Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.
The former Wolves star returns to Molineux today hoping to keep Liverpool on the tails of Chelsea and Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
And Klopp believes his goals and his allround game will make him a Kop favourite for years. “What I didn’t know when I first saw him is that Diogo is an incredible package,” said Klopp.
“From a personality point of view he is an incredible boy, really smart, structured in a nice way. I remember the first time I saw him I thought he could be a player for me because of how intense he was in all situations.
“Technically he was on a really high level but the intensity he puts in makes all the difference because at our level all players have technical quality.
“You make a difference with your attitude and that was what I was most excited about when I added Diogo to the mix.
“People said he didn’t score an awful lot of goals but the problem is Wolves had the most intense style of play for offensive wingers, defensively in an unbelievable way.
“Raul Jimenez was allowed to stay up but the rest had to cover the whole pitch and it costs you energy. And he was very young then. All that made him very interesting. It was clear he would make the next steps with us.”
Jota, who scored the fourth goal (below) in Liverpool’s 4-1 win at Everton in midweek, moved to Wolves from Atletico Madrid in 2017 after spending a season on loan at Porto. The flying Red, 25 today, played in all Portugal’s games at Euro 2020 last summer.
Jota will be even more vital to the Reds next month when Mane, Salah and Naby Keita head off to the Africa Cup of Nations.
But Klopp is hopeful to have the trio for a clash with Chelsea on January 2. That would mean they may only miss games with Crystal Palace and Brentford.
He said: “It’s not decided yet. I am an optimistic person so I hope so, but it’s not written in stone, not completely in our hands.”