Diogo Jota suggested he has the edge over his rivals in Liverpool’s attack as he pointed out just why he is a manager’s dream for Jurgen Klopp.
Jota, 24, joined the Reds last summer for a fee of £41million and scored 13 goals during an impressive debut season at Anfield.
The Portugal international also caught the eye as Portugal reached the last 16 of Euro 2020 and recently returned from a well-deserved holiday to begin pre-season training.
Jota will hope to play a prominent role in the upcoming Premier League campaign – and he believes he has an “extra advantage” over the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino in the competition for minutes.
Jota claims his versatility gives him an “extra advantage” with Klopp
Asked whether he has a favoured position, Jota told Liverpool’s official website : “No, not really. I always answer this question [with] I like to be on the field, no matter which position.
“But, of course, I feel like being able to play in different roles gives you an extra advantage because managers can choose you for one thing or another.
“It’s good for a player to have that ability – and that’s one thing I’m looking to improve on as well.”
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As he pointed out himself, Jota was used on either flank and as a centre-forward by Klopp last season.
It remains to be seen whether he will slot into the starting XI in the fast-approaching season in place of one of Liverpool’s established forward trio.
A change of system from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 would allow Klopp to utilise all four of the forwards, and the German may be contemplating such a change after the departure of midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.
Klopp confirmed Jota will be involved against Hertha Berlin in a friendly on Thursday after he arrived at Liverpool’s training camp in Austria last week.
They will have minutes, that’s the plan,” said the Reds boss on Monday. “They obviously trained completely normal all the time now and we try to involve them.”
Klopp added: “Some of them are ready for 60 minutes, it will be hard for them definitely but it means then others play 30 minutes and stuff like this, or even maybe 20 minutes and these kind of things.
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“Pre-season is about trying, it’s a proper, proper challenge to make all these individuals to bring them in the best possible physical shape and make us more ready or stronger as a team.
“Unfortunately, football is not like cycling, so you don’t miss it completely but the pedals and stuff like this just go away so quick that’s incredible. So we have to work on that again, that’s what we do.
“Today is a really tough [double session]. I like it, the players probably sleep now already and that would be better because this afternoon it would be really hard.”
