Pep Lijnders goes BIG on Diogo Jota: 'He's as good technically as the front-three!' 🔥

You can't teach what Jota has, Lijnders says...

What a player Diogo Jota is, eh Reds?

The 2020 summer signing is one of our real positives from a very difficult season - and we think he’s simply going to go from strength to strength.

For £40m-odd, he’s already proven a bargain, given the fact he’s scored 10 goals and has missed half the season!

Pep Lijnders, our assistant, has waxed lyrical about Jota - a player who has skills coaches simply can’t teach - that ability to be in the right place at the right time.

“Jota is on the same technical level as our front three - I said this before and the whole world can see it. Quick and being quick in mind is a lethal combination for a striker, he has ‘direction’ in his game,” the assistant manager said.

“Diogo understands that it’s not about him, it’s about him, Sadio, Bobby, Mo, it’s about togetherness. It’s about Divock, Shaq, Ox, how they can all relate and help each other. Adapting to our pressing style isn’t easy but with him it goes very naturally. 

“It says a lot how quick he adapted to the team and how quick the team adapted to him. It’s just pure quality as a team player and as a person. 

“He has this positioning in the box where he is often on the right spot in the right time. This intuition in the box, this pure instinct, that is something that is so difficult to coach. I still find it really difficult to coach that attribute.”

With Bobby Firmino struggling this season, we think Jota is officially part of our strongest XI, when everyone is fit.

We quite like the idea of Jota central, with Mo Salah and Sadio Mane in their usual wing spots - although this enables players to swap positions throughout - which we also like!