Journalist James Pearce and The Redmen TV’s Chris Pajak recently held a discussion about Liverpool’s moves and decisions in the summer transfer window which just closed, via The Redmen TV YouTube channel.
As a expected, the Reds’ highest profile deal of the transfer window – the acquisition of Diogo Jota from Wolves – was part of the discussion.
Jurgen Klopp decided to secure the signature of the Portugal international in an attempt to bolster his attacking unit, after winning the Premier League last season.
As per BBC, the transfer will cost Liverpool over £40m after doing business with a Wolves side who were in the race for a top four finish last term.
It is a signing which will see Klopp have more options to choose from, should any of his key front-men succumb to an injury.
For James Pearce, the addition of Jota is a shrewd move from the Liverpool boss and the journalist has even suggested that the deal for the Portuguese talent is reminiscent of the one which saw Sadio Mane move to Anfield from Southampton back in 2016.
“In the way that Thiago was clearly a break from [Liverpool’s transfer] policy, I think you’d say Jota was well and truly in keeping with the way that Liverpool have tended to do business in terms of – he’s performed at the top level, he knows the Premier League inside-out, but I think Liverpool also feel that there is huge room there for development.
“It does remind me, in a way, [of] the Sadio Mane deal. I remember writing stuff on the day that Liverpool signed Sadio Mane and a number of people replying saying, ‘that’s a crazy amount of money for someone like him, he’s not consistent enough.’
“There weren’t too many other big clubs sniffing around Sadio Mane and I think they see similar qualities in Jota – clearly, Pep Lijnders pushed pretty hard for him to be the one that they ultimately went after and got signed because he knew him well from his early days in Portuguese football. [Jurgen] Klopp had admired him a lot in the games against Wolves last season, I think [Klopp admired] his work ethic and his tactical intelligence as well.”