Liverpool have acted decisively in the transfer market in the past week. The Reds have brought in two stellar signings, furthering Michael Edwards’ reputation as one of the world’s best football directors. The two new additions have strengthened key areas of the pitch. John Barnes has claimed the signing of Diogo Jota is an upgrade on Divock Origi.
John Barnes has claimed the signing of Diogo Jota is an upgrade on Divock Origi. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool sign Jota
We can’t pretend that we saw Liverpool signing Diogo Jota coming.
The Reds had been linked with Ismaila Sarr all summer and a dozen other names were bandied about as potential reinforcements for the front line.
However we were all caught off guard when Liverpool completed a move for Diogo Jota just hours after they were first linked with the player.
It was a whirlwind day or so but an exciting one to be a Kopite as the Reds brought the Portuguese player in for £41m from Wolves.
Barnes on Jota
Kopites around the world have been excited by the arrival of the 23-year-old Portuguese forward.
One Kopite, ex-Liverpool forward John Barnes, believes that Diogo Jota is a signficant upgrade on Divock Origi. The former Reds winger told TalkSPORT (21/09/20 at 8:40 am):
“We have been fortunate in that whilst we didn’t have a big squad our main players stayed fit.
“I don’t think a couple of our main players, especially if a couple of our forwards got injured for a long period of time, I don’t think we would have maintained the way we play by bringing Origi in that position for three months or Shaqiri.
“But with Jota coming in, similar with Thiago, if he has to play for three or four months it isn’t going to be a problem. So, [Liverpool have] made very good signings.”
What RTK has to say
We have to agree with John Barnes’ assessment of Diogo Jota and Divock Origi.
Big Div has scored huge goals for us at huge moments but he has often gone missing when he’s been afforded a starting berth.
We can expect Jota to bring more to the side, given that he has much more regular first team experience. The Portuguese forward netted two hat-tricks in Europe last season which is testament to how he takes the opportunities when presented to him.
As Barnes pointed out, we no longer need to worry if one of our front three has a spell on the sidelines – that’s a massive relief.