The ECHO's end-of-season ratings continue with Diogo Jota, who has experienced a difficult season after such a promising start
Diogo Jota of Liverpool
Diogo Jota of Liverpool(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
There was something wholly apt about Diogo Jota's contribution to Portugal reaching another UEFA Nations League final this week. After all, what appears a season of success for the Liverpool forward hasn't exactly been what it seems.
Jota was restricted to merely the final few moments of his national team's 2-1 semi-final win in Germany on Wednesday evening to put him within touching distance of a second piece of silverware inside a fortnight.
With the striker having scored the first goal of the Arne Slot era when netting in the 2-0 win at Ipswich Town on the opening Premier League weekend last August, it was an encouraging start to a campaign that ended with him lifting the championship.
The concern, though, is what happened in between. And it's why rumours linking Jota with a move away from Anfield aren't being instantly dismissed as fanciful talk by Liverpool supporters.
An impressive pre-season had seen Jota win the battle to be the first-choice centre forward ahead of Darwin Nunez having been told by Slot to concentrate on that being his sole position.
Jota started seven of the first eight Premier League games and had four goals in three assists in all competitions before being forced off early on in the win against Chelsea in October having suffered an upper body impact injury when fallen on by Tosin Adarabioyo.
It would prove a turning point. Jota was sidelined for two months as intrigue grew over the extent of the damage, and outings on his return were confined to the bench in the Premier League despite important equalisers against Fulham - which came seven minutes into his comeback - and at Nottingham Forest.
Another injury setback meant it wasn't until the visit of Wolves in February that Jota started his next Premier League game and he scored only one more time.
That it was the winner in the Anfield derby against Everton underlined Jota retained a happy knock for scoring big goals. But a return of just nine in 37 appearances was his second-lowest return in a Liverpool shirt after the injury-affected 2022/23 season. He started only one of the final six Premier League games.
Jota will turn 29 in December and there is a fear among some fans his all-action physical style, which can lead to impact injuries, is catching up with the forward.
And with Slot in the process of reconfiguring Liverpool's forward line, Jota could yet come under increasing pressure for a regular starting role. Regardless of whether or not he remains at Anfield this summer, the Portuguese is poised to face a new challenge next season.
Season rating: 6