Liverpool deal says a lot about their faith in injured Diogo Jota

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Liverpool hinted towards their faith in Diogo Jota with a deal on transfer deadline day. The Portuguese forward is currently out with injury.

Takumi Minamino joined Southampton on loan this week. It’s a move we didn’t really see coming – but perhaps we should have.

The Japan international barely plays, after all, and hasn’t had significant minutes since the 7-0 win over Crystal Palace. In that sense, he’s barely a squad player.

Still, Liverpool are battling an injury crisis and have been for months. Letting a senior player feels like a risk.

However, maybe it’s not a risk. Liverpool may just have a lot of faith in Diogo Jota.

Faith

Jota hasn’t played in coming up on two months. Ever since he picked up an injury in Liverpool’s final Champions League game.

And that’s a big shame. Liverpool have struggled badly for goals in 2021, after all. They’ve rectified that in their last two but they went a stretch of four Premier League games without hitting the back of the net.

Jota, who scored nine goals over the first half of the season, would have been ideal.

And as he makes his way back from injury, we’re all hoping for a quick and full recovery. Jota being back at his best improves Liverpool’s options quite dramatically.

Fortunately, the Minamino loan is a sign that Liverpool have complete faith in Jota being fine. If there was any doubt, there’s no chance they let Minamino go.

It would have been far too risky to leave Liverpool short in case Jota was slow to recover. So we’re taking this as a real positive from the window.

The £41m signing should be okay and contribute well over the second half of this campaign. That’s the message out of Liverpool, certainly.