The image in the eye of the Spirit is one of exuberance, of optimism. It is the memory of that small but sturdy frame that runs after the ball, hunting opportunities that will continue to exist. Diogo Jota just loved football.
That always shone when he looked at him. But he was much more than a football player. He was a father and a son. Tragically enough, he also became a husband only a few days before his death in Zamora at the age of 28 years old. The grief is overwhelming.
Jota's route to the top with Liverpool and Portugal was a bit different than many of his colleagues. Unusual for a Portuguese player of such a potential, he had not been part of the famous Academies of Benfica, Sporting or Porto when he was a young teenager.
But it wasn't just that.
Jota still paid to play at the local club Gondomar when he was 16. Talking to him about that three years ago, he actually made it a point to correct that detail. “I didn't pay, it was my parents.” He was still grateful and wanted it to make it clear.
“In Portugal things are different from England,” he explained that afternoon in 2022. “I played for a small club and we had to pay monthly to play. It was only when I was transferred to Pacos [de Ferreira in 2013] That I started to receive some money. “
Talking with Vasco Seabra, his coach at Pacos, he gave insight into how far Jota came to go from the edge of Portuguese football to playing in a Champions League final. Seabra even had to write to the Portuguese FA to show them.
“I remember that I sent an e -mail to our National Team U19 coach.” Seabra just knew. “It's his character,” he explained. “Diogo is a great person. I am not even talking about him as a player because he is clearly great. But as a person.
“You would think that the really good players would not listen when they had to receive the ball within it or try to be better at it. You may think that they are so good that you can let them play. It's the opposite. The best players are modest and want to learn.”
I once asked Jota where that came from.
“This hunger has been with me since I can remember. In my childhood, I have never played for the big teams. I had a few teammates who went to Porto or Benfica. I had tasted, but I never stayed. I was one of the better but never the best.”
Humble. Self -conscious. Driven.
That was also a nice conversation. Jota was on Adidas HQ in stockport filming for the release of a new football shoe, but took the time to sit down and talk through his career. He was warm and fascinating company and spoke about much more than just football.
He spoke about his joy in spending time with family and what that meant. Then he smiled. “I'm also waiting for FIFA 23 to get out. I just love that game.” He was the master and won a tournament under Premier League players during the pandemic. “No rivals.”
I rarely ask for photos with players. But I did it with him.
Especially it was because I felt privileged that I had witnessed his rise. The first time I saw Jota playing in the meat was in Porto against Leicester in the Champions League. He scored the fifth goal in the Estadio do Dragao that night, just a few days after turning 20.
A career crackling with possibility.
He arrived in English football the next summer and joined Wolves, the club that I supported like a boy, even next to my aunt and uncle.
He was immediately a hit and scored 17 goals in that title -winning season in the championship, clearly a cut above the competition next to Ruben Neves.
In the beginning, some had suggested that these Portuguese children might not have been able to cope with the cut and thrust of life in the second level of England, especially based in a less or prosperous city in the West Midlands. They didn't know Jota. He embraced it.
When promoted to the Premier League, it took a bit of time to adjust, but a change of position ignited his season in December, a winner against Chelsea scored before he got his first hat trick in English football in a dramatic 4-3 defeat of Leicester.
He scored two weeks apart in Molineux on Manchester United. He was against Arsenal. In the following season there were two more hat tricks against Besiktas and Espanyol as the club where he was accompanied by the championship in Europe.
Such successes caught the attention of Liverpool. A reimbursement of more than £ 40 million felt great for a player who had not guaranteed a starting place at Wolves. But only this week Wolves chairman Jeff Shi said it was the sale that he was most sorry about. Liverpool saw something.
Last year speaking against Ian Graham, the former research director of Liverpool, he outlined exactly what that was.
“He was really interesting because we went back and forth with the video analysis department. We knew that he did not play in the formation as a broad attacker, but the way he interpreted that role left him more on a Liverpool wide.”
In five seasons in Liverpool, Jota won everything that could be won in English and scored 65 goals in 182 performances. There were injuries and the strange drought, but so many important interventions, appear at important moments when Liverpool needed him.
Jamie Carragher once called him the best Finisher in the club.
Another memory. One zero to Nottingham Forest in January, he came out of the bank to score the equalizer only 22 seconds after entering the field. In April he scored the winner against Everton in the Merseyside Derby.
It is now difficult to think about the fact that they were his last two goals. There was so much more to come, not only on the field, but especially out. A life to live. If there is some comfort, it comes from the thought that he did more than he dreamed.
“I probably didn't believe I could reach Liverpool,” he admitted that day in stockport. But he did more than that. He made memories to cherish.