‘I never saw him as a Liverpool player’: Pundit says he was wrong about Klopp star

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Danny Murphy admits that he didn’t think Diogo Jota was ‘a Liverpool player’ when Jurgen Klopp snapped him up from Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers, speaking to talkSPORT (29 November, 12.50pm). 

As recently as 2019, the prospect of a Liverpool side shorn of Roberto Firmino’s unique brand of centre-forward play might have been enough to keep the Anfield faithful up at night. 

The brilliant Brazilian was the glue that held Klopp’s free-scoring frontline together, like Charlie Watts setting the beat in the background while Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of Liverpool’s attack, pranced around on centre stage. 

Klopp has the ever-improving Jota at his disposal these days, however.

And, as he ripped Southampton apart on Saturday afternoon, it was a case of ‘Sympathy for the Saints’ rather than ‘Sympathy for the Devil’.

In Firmino’s injury-enforced absence, the former Wolves winger has stepped up in style, scoring twice in a thumping 4-0 win just seven days after leaving Ben White and Aaron Ramsdale sprawling red-faced on the Anfield turf.

Is Diogo Jota one of the best Premier League signings of the modern era?

“He just continually keeps scoring goals! I know they’ve lost Firmino for a while with an injury but he’s not been talked about because of (Jota’s) form,” says former Liverpool ace Murphy. 

“I was a bit shocked when they signed him. I thought at Wolves he was decent but I never saw him as a Liverpool player. He’s been sensational.

“He’s got eight in 16 this season, can’t argue with that, and 21 in 46 since he’s been at the club. He’s just been a brilliant signing.  

“I like his energy, I like his attitude. You don’t see him moaning or diving, he just gets on with the job. And he can play on the left, the right or in the middle.”

Jota is just one of a number of players who have been transformed under the management of Jurgen Klopp, blossoming a la Mane, Salah, Firmino, Andy Robertson, Gini Wijnaldum, Robert Lewandowski, Mats Hummels, Trent Alexander-Arnold and many, many more. 

At this stage, you get the feeling that Klopp could pluck a 15 stone centre-half straight out of non-league and turn him into Franz Beckenbauer after a training session or two.