Liverpool sign Diogo Jota from Wolves
Liverpool have announced their second signing in two days after completing the signing of Diogo Jota from Wolves for a fee around £41 million deal that could rise to £45 million with add-ons.
The Portugal winger, 23, who joined Wolves on loan in 2017-18 and then on a permanent basis will join Liverpool on a five-year deal.
The move to Liverpool comes a day after the Anfield club signed Thiago from Bayern Munich for £20 million. With the deal for Jota only costing Liverpool a net spend of £30 million after defender Ki-Jana Hoever moved to Wolves on a deal worth £9 million with an extra £4.5 million in add-ons.
Jota who scored 44 goals in 137 appearances including nine in the Uefa Europa Legaue for Wolves provides important depth for Liverpool’s front line alongside Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino.
Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo wishes Jota the best at Liverpool and has praised the player’s ability. "Diogo was happy here but players like new challenges… Diogo is amazing and everybody knows the relationship we built.”
Jota is excited to join a club with the stature of Liverpool and knows the challenge that lies ahead. “It’s just a really exciting moment for me and my family,
“All of my path since I was a kid and now, to join a club like Liverpool – the world champions – is just unbelievable. I just want to get started.
“It is one of the best teams in the world – the best at the moment because they are world champions. When you look at the Premier League, you always see Liverpool as one of the biggest teams in the country, so it’s impossible to say no.
“So we just want to come [here], to give our best and hopefully I can become a good option for Liverpool in the future.” Continued the Portugal winger in an interview with Liverpoolfc.com.
“I think I am a team player,” said the former Athletico Madrid and Wolves player. “I play up front and my job is to find a way to score goals and to provide assists and that’s what they can expect from me – that I will always do my best. I will always try to help the team in the best way possible.
“They [the fans] can count on me because now I am one of them and I will give my best.”
Klopp is happy to have secured the signing of a versatile forward that gives the Premier League Champions a number of options whilst also providing back up for the front three. “He’s a player who gives us so many options to use him. He’s 23 years old, still far away from being kind of a finished article, so much potential. He has the speed, he can combine, can defend, can press.” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com.
Klopp continued: “It makes it just more unpredictable and gives us real options for different systems because he can play pretty much all three positions up front in a 4-3-3, if we play with four midfielders he can play both wings. So, these kinds of things. It’s just nice. And he has some natural things which we have in our game, like this desire and the greed and the direction.”
Jota’s potential to improve as a player and improve the team excites Liverpool’s manager. “Of course it is. We always talk about these kinds of things; who can improve our team, the team who won pretty much everything last year? A lot of things can improve us, just if you want to come and play 500 games in a row then it could be slightly difficult.
The space for improvement is not what I like most, but it’s there. He is now already ready to play for us but yes, I’m pretty sure there’s something to come. And the way we play, the way we train and the way we treat people, I think will help him as well. Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com
Jota, who is Liverpool’s third signing of the summer transfer window after the signings of Tsimikas and Thigao, will wear the vacant number 20 shirt at Liverpool.
