Yorkshire Evening Post chief football writer Graham Smyth recalls Diogo Jota’s ‘sparkle’ at Elland Road
On Wednesday afternoon I began to write a piece about transfers that began: "Leeds United are pleased with their start to the summer transfer window but still suddenly find themselves facing an optics problem."
The problem was that for the second time in five days a player whose name was on Leeds United's list of summer transfer targets had got himself a Premier League deal, but at Sunderland. That's Leeds' fellow newly-promoted side Sunderland. That's finished-24-points-behind-Leeds Sunderland. First it was Habib Diarra. Leeds bid £22m for him, Sunderland got him for £30m. Then it was Noah Sadiki. Leeds liked the look of him but as of Tuesday sources in Belgium described them as still being at the interest stage rather than making any offers. On Wednesday a deal between Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and Sunderland worth up to £17m was in the works. On the face of it, the optics were not great and the response from many Leeds fans said as much.
By Thursday morning as news broke of the tragedy suffered by Liverpool Football Club, the problem seemed so insignificant as to have become an entirely ridiculous notion rather than a problem at all. Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva died in a car crash, sending the football world into mourning and for a short time at least silencing even the talk of transfers. How Leeds can deal with a narrative that will soon be entirely forgotten as more signings arrive pales in comparison with the question of how Liverpool will even begin to deal with an unthinkable tragedy.
In a statement Leeds described the Portuguese as 'a tough opponent to come up against' and that was never more evident than in April 2023 when he sparkled under the lights at Elland Road. His workrate and pressing were almost as problematic for the relegation-threatened Whites as his finishing. He nicked the ball off Weston McKennie and raced forward to tee up Mo Salah for Liverpool's second. He got the third himself with a lovely finish under pressure from the onrushing Illan Meslier. He dispossessed Rasmus Kristensen on the edge of the Leeds box to set the Reds on a counter that ended in another Salah goal. Then he belted in the fifth of the visitors' six goals with the sharpest of finishes. As bad as Leeds were on the night, he and Liverpool were irresistible.
The quality of a player does not make his death more or less sad than that of any other young person taken in their prime, but we all have our favourites for our own reasons. Plainly, there were a lot of reasons for Wolves and then Liverpool supporters to hold Jota among their very favourites.
Moments like this inevitably bring out the best in football, because the human response is to express horror, sadness and then of course sympathy for a family that has lost two sons and for two clubs that have lost two team-mates. Even if they already have a natural inclination to respond with kindness or class, clubs like Leeds feel a particular weight of responsibility to say and do the right things because they know what it is to suffer tragedy. They get it. So they rally round. A Leeds fan laid one of her club's shirts down at Anfield on Thursday in a simple act that just said 'we're with you.'
Moments like this are a reminder, too. Hug your loved ones. Tell those you appreciate how you feel about them. That goes for players who have made you feel something too. This time of year might be more known for forming new affections for the shiny new things and players yet to even pull on the shirt, but it's always the right time to appreciate what you have. Leeds are blessed with some talented footballers but they have some really great characters too. Thanks to those players and Daniel Farke the club are about to host the likes of Liverpool again when they set foot in the Premier League. Their status as champions sometimes gets forgotten amid the clamour for players that are undoubtedly needed to strengthen the squad, because football never stops. Life does, though.
Junior Firpo left Leeds United this week and the mutual displays of affection between him and the fanbase made it clear that he knows how the city feels about him now. How could he not, after the songs and the scenes in the centre for the bus parade? And perhaps that is one tiny crumb of comfort for Liverpool in the darkest and emptiest of hours. Diogo Jota went on a bus parade too because he was a champion. He saw and heard very clearly what a city felt about him. He knew that he was loved.
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