Jurgen Klopp knew he was getting his hands on a talented young player when Diogo Jota swapped Wolverhampton Wanderers for Anfield over the summer.
But even he didn’t anticipate the most expensive forward in Liverpool’s history making such an immediate impact at the reigning Premier League champions.
“He’s much better than I thought he would be,” Klopp told the Reds’ website of Jota, who has nine goals in 17 games already and ripped Atalanta apart with a quite glorious Champions League hat-trick in November.
Klopp is not alone in being left open-mouthed by the sparkling displays of a Portugal international who, even at £40 million, already looks like a bargain.
Speaking exclusively to HITC, Emile Heskey admits that no one in the Premier League has surprised him quite like Liverpool’s Iberian speed-machine in 2020/21.
“(Jota) was coming into a Liverpool side which was settled going forward so you’re questioning ‘what can he actually bring?’,” said a striker who scored 60 goals for the Merseyside giants between 1999 and 2004.
“But he enhanced them, given them more goals, given them more movement; he’s been brilliant so I’m kind of surprised with that.
“I didn’t expect him to be so good. It’s funny because some players are able to take that step up with ease and others take time.
“He’s taken that step up with ease.”
‘Made a massive difference’
Jota is not the only summer signing who has made a transformative impact in new surroundings.
The critics who lambasted Aston Villa’s decision to pay a record £28 million for Ollie Watkins are now quieter than a church mouse in the Crucible, with the former Brentford talisman following up a famous hat-trick against Liverpool with two more in a 3-0 thrashing of Arsenal.
“I didn’t really know too much about him but he’s made a massive difference. He’s exactly what Villa have been looking for and they’re scoring freely,” former Holte End hero Heskey adds.
“You’ve got to take your hat off to Dean Smith. When you look at what they’ve spent before, it wasn’t spent wisely. But now it seems their recruitment has been spot on.”
Like Watkins, Eberechi Eze has adapted with startling ease to Premier League life, forging a fearsome partnership with Wilfred Zaha while threatening to turn Crystal Palace into one of the division’s most watchable sides.
“Very clever on the ball, the way he manipulates the ball,” says Heskey of a fleet-footed play-maker who blossomed into arguably the Championship’s most talented player at Queens Park Rangers after being released by Arsenal.
“It’s a testament to what QPR are doing, helping players settle and helping them be the best they can. (Arsenal) could do with someone like that now!”
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