Diogo Jota, from not making his debut at Atleti to cost Liverpool € 50M

EI Athletic always is attentive in search of young promises that can strengthen the team looking to the future. So recently came Renan I gave it from Brazil or João Felix from Portugal and they were about to do it Lautaro Martinez and Bruno Guimaraes.

During the summer 2016, the rojiblanco club jumped for the signing of a pearl that stood out in the Paços de Ferreira: his name was Diogo Jota and Atlético paid eight million to get ahead of Porto and mainly Benfica in their quest to gain their services. With 19 years and in his first full season in the first team had scored 14 goals in 35 games starting from the left wing, with a changed leg and with a fantastic ability to enter diagonally through the middle and define before the goalkeeper with his speed and intelligence when taking off-marks. A soccer player who, in addition to his nationality, had certain football characteristics similar to those of Simao, what good years he left at Atlético.

However, his arrival at the club coincided with that of Nico Gaitán, signed from Benfica itself and which was expected to fill the huge hole of a technical player starting from the wing that he had left Arda Turan a year earlier. The Argentine was a Simeone's express wish and he had marveled at the Vicente Calderón as a visitor. In addition, Carrasco also started from that position, so that two contrasting players complicated the presence of Diogo Jota in the squad.

Explosion at Wolverhampton

The Portuguese carried out the preseason, leaving flashes of quality and a goal against Italian Crotone before going on loan to Porto. There he began his relationship with the one who has ended up being his great supporter from the bench, a Nuno who from the first day saw great qualities in him. After taking advantage of his first loan (8 goals in 38 games), The coach, who had been dismissed from Porto, expressly requested his incorporation to Wolverhampton in his new project in search of promotion to the Premier League. There he uncovered with 18 capital goals to move up the category and the Wolves kept their services on property paying Atlético 12 million, 50% more than what he had been worth to the rojiblanco club without making his debut and when he had not played in the English first division.

But its evolution has been unstoppable. In a team where they are also Jonny, another who did not make his debut despite signing for Atlético and Raúl Jiménez, if he scored only one goal last season as rojiblanco scored 27, found his place of comfort. A Jota that, without participating in excess in the game, is decisive in the final meters and last season he scored 16 goals in 3,060 minutes that have served him to become a fixture with the national team, where at 23 years debuted as a scorer on the same day as João Félix (against Croatia 4-1) and to sign for Liverpool. Klopp has seen in Jota the perfect replacement for Mané, Salah or Firmino, any of the three above and the Premier champions have not hesitated to fork out 50 million for one player that, although it was two years at Atlético, he never had the opportunity to show his qualities on the pitch.