Lee Peltier has admitted that he hated playing against Diogo Jota whilst the Liverpool player was in the Championship with Wolves.
In an interview with Goal, Peltier says Jota would give him a ‘torrid time’. The former Liverpool defender also praised The Reds recruitment process for picking up the Portuguese forward.
“They don’t tend to get it wrong when they buy players, do they?” said Peltier who now plays for Middlesbrough.
“Just look at Diogo Jota. I played against him for two years when he was at Wolves and I was at Cardiff, and he’d give me a torrid time. I knew he’d be a Premier League player, and a good one.”
That he most certainly has been. It’s easy to forget that Jota was once a Championship player. He made the move to Wolves, initially on loan, as a 21-year-old.
Jota’s 17-goal haul helped Nuno Espirito Santo’s side to promotion that year.
Two productive seasons in the Premier League then followed before a move to Liverpool took him to the next level. The 25-year-old’s grounding in the Championship has definitely helped to make him the player he is today.
The full package
Peltier makes some interesting comments about what it’s like to play against Diogo.
“He played as a left-winger then, and we used to do man-to-man marking,” said the 35-year-old.
“I used to say to (Neil) Warnock, ‘How do you expect me to mark this fella?!’ He was so strong, so mobile. He was game, he’d get stuck in, he’d give you a bit of verbal. He never stopped.”
That gives a great little insight into how difficult it must be for opposition defenders to stop Liverpool’s number 20.
His speed and mobility are easy to see assets. But it’s those abilities coupled with his strength, positional play and finishing which make him a perfect fit for Jurgen Klopp’s well oiled machine.
As for the “bit of verbal”, the absence of fans meant that it took us a little while to see that. But as his shall we say, enthusiastic, celebrations in-front of the Leicester City fans recently showed, he isn’t afraid of a bit of needle.
Whichever way you look at it, Jota has been a sensational signing for Liverpool. Having won his first trophy with the club on Sunday, he’ll be desperate to stay fit and fire The Reds to more silverware this season.
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