Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has branded forward Diogo Jota ‘exceptional’ as the former Wolves man brings up a year with the Reds.
The Reds pounced to sign Jota on September 19th 2020, and his first Premier League goal for the club came on this day last year.
Jota has now made 37 appearances for Liverpool, racking up 16 goals in that time – including one against Brentford at the weekend.
Klopp praises Jota
Tonight, Jota faces off against his former club Porto in a Champions League clash.
Boss Jurgen Klopp has been speaking about Jota ahead of the game, raving about the Portuguese attacker.
Klopp told Liverpool’s official website that he is ‘really happy’ that the club, headed up by Michael Edwards in terms of recruitment, managed to sign Jota.
Klopp added that Jota is an ‘exceptional’ player who fits Liverpool perfectly for a whole host of reasons.
The German also praised Jota’s character, with Klopp clearly feeling that he is the complete package for Liverpool.
“Exceptional player, really happy we signed him,” said Klopp. “Honestly, he’s a really strong personality – you cannot know about that before you meet the person. He’s really, even for his young age, a very mature man, so that makes it really enjoyable to work with him.”
“We spoke about it from time to time – it’s not easy to improve us. But Diogo did definitely. Scored important goals, is actually a player made for our style: pretty intense, technically good, really fast, good in the air, both feet really good. So, Diogo is a very interesting package and I’m really happy that we saw that and we could realise the transfer. That helped us a lot. The first year was obviously not completely free of any struggles because of the injury which he got at Midtjylland. That was not perfect. But when he was available, when he was fit, he always helped us a lot,” he added.
Liverpool may be seeing more rounded Jota
In the Premier League last season, Jota recorded 12 key passes across 19 games.
In six games to start this season, Jota already has 11 key passes.
Jota was a great goalscoring threat last season, but he now seems to be adjusting well to playing as a central striker.
Roberto Firmino regularly drops in to link play, and Jota seems to be creating chances for his teammates at a much improved rate.
Adding a little more creativity to his game makes Liverpool even more dangerous going forward, with Jota developing well under Klopp.
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