Having slotted in two more goals for Liverpool at the weekend, Diogo Jota is in a good moment right now.
The Portugal international has so far stepped up to make the Reds’ Mohamed Salah problem a little bit less of an issue than it might have been. Showcasing the very best of his uncanny finishing ability, Jota has been ruthless.
However, despite his top-notch finishing, the 27-year-old isn’t always necessarily right in the thick of the action. He can pop up from seemingly having a quiet game and kill opponents in a second.
And judging from his comments to liverpoolfc.com yesterday, this knack appears to be what Curtis Jones is referring to when deciding Jota’s brand new nickname.
“I’m at the point now where I call him ‘the ghost’ because he’s one of them where you think he’s not involved in the game, and then he’ll pick up the ball and it’ll turn into a goal!” Jones says.
“I’ve been around a lot of world-class strikers from my Academy days into the U21s and then the [senior] team, and he’s right up there.”
Rise of ‘the ghost’
Jones always seems like a fun chap to be around, doesn’t he? If there’s ever a new little nickname or an in joke going around, Curtis is usually at the centre of it.
On this one, we’re not all that sure Diogo will be 100 per cent happy with it, mind you.
It’s obviously a good thing that the former Wolves man can pop up out of nowhere with a game-defining moment. But we’re sure he’d prefer to be recognised as being in the game all the time regardless.
The truth of the matter is that that simply isn’t Jota, though. He does drift in and out of things at times.
In many ways, the Reds No.10 is the exact opposite of his striker partner, Darwin Nunez. This would not be a moniker that would fit the big Uruguayan at all.
Diogo Jota
Nunez is often as involved as you like, but could quite easily pass up two, three or four very good chances in one game.
He could be accused of being a few things on a football field at times, but ‘ghost’ is certainly not one of them.
Together though, this partnership seems to be working. Nunez does all the blunt work and running, while Diogo then turns up to smash the ball in the net. We’re fine with that.
With tonight’s game against Fulham fast approaching, the ghost will be aiming to get a few more scares in on the Thames tonight.
