Wolverhampton Wanderers chairman Jeff Shi has admitted he regrets selling Diogo Jota to Liverpool in September 2020
Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott of Liverpool during a training session at AXA Training Centre
Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott of Liverpool during a training session at AXA Training Centre
(Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Wolverhampton Wanderers chairman Jeff Shi has admitted he regrets selling Diogo Jota to Liverpool. The Reds signed the Portuguese in a deal worth up to £45m in September 2020.
Jota has since scored 65 goals in his five seasons at Anfield, making 182 appearances and also registering 22 assists. Meanwhile, he has also won the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup during his time with Liverpool.
However, the 28-year-old has also been plagued by injury throughout his Liverpool career. Consequently, he struggled to nail down a starting place under Arne Slot last season despite starting the campaign as first-choice centre-forward.
Jota has, at times, been loosely linked with a Reds exit this summer as a result. Wolves have even been tipped as possible suitors as the Premier League champions look to strengthen their own attacking ranks before the transfer window closes.
And Wolves chairman Shi has admitted the striker is the one player he wishes he had never sold during his time at Molineux.
“In the last nine or eight years, I think we shouldn’t have sold Diogo Jota,” he admitted on the ‘Business of Sport’ podcast. “At that time, I spoke with Nuno (Espirito Santo) and we may sell one of the players, maybe Diogo, Adama (Traore), whatever.
“Then Nuno chose Adama to stay, because he thinks maybe Adama was so important for how he played. So we sold Diogo.
“Of course, at the time, Diogo was injured a little bit too much, you know? So he was injured for two months, then two months again or whatever, and then not playing so well in the last three, four months for us.
“But he went to Liverpool, he did so well, and I was very happy for him. He was a very good guy and a smart boy.
“But if you ask me if I can change the history, I wouldn’t have sold him.”
Jota initially joined Wolves on loan from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2017, scoring 18 goals from 46 appearances in all competitions to help them win promotion back to the Premier League.
Then signing permanently in a reported €14m deal, he went on to 26 goals from 85 appearances over the next two seasons prior to his move to Liverpool.
But while Shi might point to Jota’s injury record as one reason why Wolves sold the forward, Jota was actually rarely plagued during his three years at Molineux and played in 111 of 122 league matches during his time at the club.
Suffering a hamstring injury in December 2018, Jota was sidelined for three weeks and missed four Premier League games. He’d then make 20 appearances following his return, returning eight goals and six assists.
Meanwhile, he’d suffer ankle and calf injuries in the 2019/20 season but would sit out only four matches each respectively. Returning in January 2020, he finished the campaign with seven goals and an assist from his final 19 appearances of the season.