Liverpool announced Diogo Jota had signed a new five-year deal with the club on Tuesday. The Portugal star has been rewarded with a significant pay rise, having impressed since arriving from Wolves in a £45million move two years ago.
Discussions between Liverpool sporting director Julian Ward and Jota’s agent Jorge Mendes have been ongoing throughout the summer and the club have finally got the new deal over the line.
Since his arrival, the forward has highlighted himself as a well-rounded and versatile attacker who has proven useful in playing a number of different positions within Jurgen Klopp’s side. That’s set to continue with competition for a start in Liverpool’s front line looking likely to be fierce.
Although the Reds sold Sadio Mane this summer, the arrival of Darwin Nunez plus Luis Diaz in January means it’s tough to know for sure where the forward fits into Liverpool’s new-look attack. Nunez looks nailed onto lead things through the middle, with Roberto Firmino offering cover, while Diaz has excelled playing out on the left.
Jota is highly regarded by the club, as the new deal signifies, however it is unlikely he will dislodge either of those players as starters. Yet his knack for scoring goals in key moments could be just one of the reasons the Reds were so keen to tie him down.
Despite regular rotation in and out of the side, the Portugal midfielder scored an impressive 21 goals across all competitions last season. That broke down to an average of 0.50 goals per 90 - basically a goal for every two 90-minute appearances.
That alone is impressive, yet perhaps what stands out even more is how many of those efforts proved decisive in terms of results for Liverpool.
Across the course of last season, Jota scored nine ‘crucial goals’. Although there’s a reasonable case to be made that every goal is important, in this instance, a ‘crucial goal’ is defined as a strike that handed Liverpool the lead when the game was level or proved the winner on the day.
That’s a remarkable return. For comparison, Mohamed Salah scored 31 goals last season, ten more than Jota, yet only eight of those strikes can be defined as ‘crucial goals’.
To further highlight the magnitude of this feat, we can even throw it back by comparing him to another Reds legend in one of his best-ever Liverpool campaigns. In the eyes of many, Luis Suarez produced one of the best individual attacking campings of any player in the Premier League era back in the 2013/14 season, scoring a stunning 31 times despite missing the first eight games through suspension. But again, just seven of those efforts proved ‘crucial’. That’s two less than Jota.
Although Jota is set to miss the start of the new season as he battles a hamstring injury, the above highlights his unique and hard-to-quantify ability to score goals in crucial moments for the Reds. This knack for doing so won’t be overlooked and he’s sure to play a big role in Liverpool’s quest for more silverware this season.
