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United States Liverpool's genius Diogo Jota transfer looking even better after ‘waste of time’ rant
The signing of Diogo Jota came just one day after Thiago Alcantara finally completed his protracted move to Liverpool.
And while there were few question marks raised about the acquisition of the classy Spanish midfielder, splashing out £45million on a player who found himself in and out of the Wolves side did raise a few eyebrows.
Fast forward less than two years and while Thiago is still waiting to show his best form in a Liverpool shirt - Jota has emphatically surpassed all expectations.
In 65 games for the Reds, Jota already has 30 goals, becoming just the ninth player in the club’s illustrious history to hit 30 in his first 60 appearances.
Glenn Hoddle recently branded the Portuguese “pressing monster” as the best signing of the Jurgen Klopp era - no mean feat when you account for the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Andy Robertson and of course, Mohamed Salah.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Who is the best signing of the Jurgen Klopp era? Let us know in the comments
And while that debate is for another day, the deal to bring Jota from the Black Country to Merseyside is looking more impressive with every passing week.
As Jota was first unveiled in a Liverpool shirt, going the other way was Ki-Jana Hoever, signed by Wolves for an initial fee of £10million.
The Dutchman had impressed in his fleeting appearances for the senior Liverpool side - including an FA Cup showing against Wolves at Molineux in 2019.
But the deal to send Hoever to the Midlands always - on the face of it - looked a good one for the Reds, with the versatile defender unlikely to ever really break into the starting XI.
Ironically, had he stayed at Anfield, he would have probably had more than the 15 appearances he accrued at Wolves, thanks to the raft of defensive injuries suffered by Klopp’s squad.
His suitability for the 3-4-3 formation adopted by both Nuno Espiritio Santo and his successor Bruno Lage was always difficult to envision - not a genuine wing-back and with better options for the right side of the three central defenders.
The arrival of Nelson Semedo from Barcelona in the same window put paid to the idea that Hoever would ever be a regular starter at Wolves, and so that had proved to be true.
So while Jota’s Liverpool career goes from strength to strength, Lage may have closed the door on Hoever’s at Wolves.
Speaking after the 20-year-old hobbled off with an injury minutes into their defeat to Crystal Palace, Lage launched a stinging criticism of the Ajax academy product, accusing him of not preparing to play sufficiently.
He said: “Ki is a good example of the young kids, they want everything to happen (now). When you are out and your teammate is playing, and you are not training at the intensity, you are not preparing yourself and after, when you have a chance, these kinds of things happen.
“I have too many kids in my team that sometimes don’t work the way they should work. They do not prepare the way they should prepare and after, when they come inside (the team), these kind of things happen.
“When they are in training they are thinking a lot, ‘Oh I’m not playing’, and I said to them in the first day when I started, ‘We are here, you need to continue to work. The first target is to work and improve.’
Lage continued: “Injuries can happen, but this one happened because he was not prepared because Ki sometimes doesn’t work in the same intensity. This warning is not only for Ki, it’s for all the kids we have in our team.
“They need to understand that I don’t waste time with guys who don’t work hard every day to improve.”
Liverpool included a 15 per cent sell-on fee in the deal that sent Hoever to Wolves and while that looks unlikely to bear fruit, the £10m - almost a quarter of the money outlaid to sign Jota - looks set to be yet another Michael Edwards masterclass.
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