JOT SHOT
These are extraordinarily productive times for Diogo Jose Teixeira da Silva, aka Diogo Jota, the formidable Liverpool and Portugal frontrunner.
This season, everything the versatile 25-year-old attacker has touched has taken on a gilded hue, establishing himself as a vital component in Liverpool’s attack, piling up the goals for the Reds – surpassing the 20-mark for the first time in his career – and becoming increasingly important for the Portuguese national team.
On signing for Liverpool in a £41 million deal from Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 2020, some mistakenly believed that he would only have a bit-part role in the Anfield squad, essentially recruited to provide emergency cover for the prodigious trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. However Jota has turned out to be much more than a rotation fix. Now clearly established as one of Jurgen Klopp’s go-to guys in attack, he has developed into a true world-class operative; highly skilled, fast, imaginative, industrious and a ruthless finisher, while surprisingly adroit in the air.
No wonder he sports a smile as wide as the River Mersey. A devoted follower of the Premier League as a schoolboy, he is currently living the dream at Liverpool. “I would go to my grandfather’s house at the weekend because he had the sports channel which showed English Premier League games,” he recalled in a piece with the newspaper. “I’d watch the Saturday and Sunday matches and
