Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan paid his respects to Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva at Anfield on Wednesday
Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan lays a tribute to Diogo Jota at Anfield(Image: Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan has said the club will decide how to honour the life of Diogo Jota after conversations with the player's family - and will communicate the plans to do so at an "appropriate time".
Reds forward Jota, 28, and his brother, Andre Silva, 25, were tragically killed in a road traffic accident in the Zamora region of Spain in the early hours of Thursday, July 3.
The brothers were travelling across Spain to board a ferry back to England ahead of Jota reporting back to Liverpool for pre-season training just days later.
However, the vehicle in which they were travelling veered off the road after reportedly suffering a tyre blowout.
Both Jota and Silva were laid to rest at a funeral service in their hometown of Gondomar, Portugal, on Saturday, which was attended by the majority of the first team, including Virgil van Dijk and manager Arne Slot, as well as a number of club staff and officials.
Meanwhile, back on Merseyside, supporters have been paying their respects to the pair by laying flowers, shirts and scarves outside of Anfield's Main Stand.
And on Wednesday afternoon, Hogan and members of the club's executive team visited the memorial site to pay tribute to the Liverpool forward.
Speaking to LFC TV, Hogan said: "First, I would just say that obviously we’re here today – and so many people have been here before – to just offer condolences and thoughts and prayers for Diogo and for Andre, and most importantly for their family.
"It has only been a couple of days but, as we all know, it has been just absolutely devastating. We’re a club in mourning. We have all been completely shocked by the situation and, again, can only think of what this has meant to their family.
"What we see behind us and the overwhelming outpouring of support and emotion and grief and love – having a chance to walk down the row here and read the cards and read the messages, our anthem, You’ll Never Walk Alone, it does mean something.
"In this case, I think everybody just feels so passionately about making sure that we remember the two boys but also that we support their family, and we’re going to work through this together."
After the decision was made last week to postpone Liverpool's return to pre-season training, Arne Slot and his players reported back to the AXA Training Centre on Tuesday (July 8th)
The Reds are set to face Championship outfit Preston North End at Deepdale on Sunday afternoon, which will be the club's first match since Jota's passing.
And the Reds' CEO has confirmed that the forward will be honoured before Sunday's game against the Championship side, while "medium and longer term" tributes will be confirmed at a later stage.
"As a club, there’s been lots of ideas and certainly within the supporter base lots of ideas," added Hogan. "That’s something we’ll take forward with the family and we want to have those conversations at the appropriate time.
"Obviously they have gone through an unimaginable situation over the course of the last several days.
"We certainly will, obviously, remember both Andre and Diogo and at the appropriate time we’ll make those plans clear.
"We’ve got the match on Sunday at Deepdale and we’ll of course remember them at that match. Then the tour, then we come back to Anfield and then the season starts, so we’re thinking about all of those moments.
"Of course, we want to make sure we do the right thing and appropriately remember both Andre and Diogo."