Diogo Jota
and his younger brother Andre – who
now plays in midfield for Gondomar –
but what they could pass on was bags
of humility, unselfishness and realism.
“He could see the difficulties we
had as parents,” said his father in an
interview withMaisfutebol. “We didn’t
earn much above the minimum wage.
It was not easy to have two children
in football and get paid what we did.
Diogo never asked us for anything.
He never even said that he wanted
a pair of branded football boots.
He knew it wasn’t possible.
“He never went out at night, even
as a teenager. He was always at home.
For Diogo, if there was football in the
afternoon and PlayStation at night,
he was happy.”
In the summer of 2013, he was
finally granted his dream move to
the Portuguese top flight, swapping
Gondomar for Pacos de Ferreira,
another city in Greater Porto. Gilberto
Andrade, then Pacos head of youth
development, was the man who
facilitated the transfer. Andrade could
not believe that no elite Portugueseclub had come in for the youngster. He
vowed to promptly back his judgement.
“Gondomar and Pacos de Ferreira
were facing off in a youth game and
Jota was making a big difference,”
Andrade explained to theDiario de
Noticiasnewspaper. “I went to speakAUG 15, 2017
Scores his first goal
in England to help
seal a 3–2 away win
against Hull City.
JAN 30, 2018
Agrees a deal to join
Wolves permanently
that summer for a
fee of€14m.JAN 19, 2019
Becomes only the
second Portuguese
player – after
Cristiano Ronaldo- to net a Premier
League hat-trick in
a 4-3 victory over
Leicester City.
JUN9,2019
Watches from the
bench as Portugal
win the inaugural
UEFA Nations
League with a
1-0 win over the
Netherlands
in the final.NOV 14, 2019
Makes his Portugal
debut in a Euro
2020 qualifier
against Lithuania,
replacing Cristiano
Ronaldo in the
84th minute.DEC 12, 2019
Completes a
12-minute hat-trick
after coming on in
the second half of
a Europa League
game against
Besiktas.Loan spells...
lining up a
shot against
Juventus
for PortoHead master...Jota
nets for Portugal
against Turkey in
the 2022 World Cup
qualifying play-offstold theOJogosports daily in 2020.
“I did train at a number of big clubs,
though nothing came of it. I was
disappointed, but it all turned out OK
in the end. The secret is not to give up.”
This all-powerful desire and
unshakeable self-belief has served
as his personal suit of armour.
Whenever obstacles block his path,
he shrugs, takes it in his stride and
redoubles his efforts. He is a stoical
character, instinctively inclined to
keep matters in perspective.
Such was the case when a move
from the Pacos de Ferreira club to
Atletico Madrid swiftly turned sour
in the summer of 2016. A€7m
recruit with a five-year contract in
his back pocket,Jota would have
been chomping at the bit to make
his mark with the “Colchoneros”. Yet
sadly he never had the chance to
perform in La Liga, sent on a season-
long loan to Porto within weeks of
arriving in the Spanish capital.
Many have wondered why Atletico
bought him in the first place, especially
given their determination to see off
Portuguese giants Benfica in a bidding
war. A possible explanation is the “too
much of a good thing” theory, with
Atletico belatedly realising that two
of their recruits that summer (Diogo
and the former Benfica man Nicolas
Gaitan) were too similar in style. The
town was not big enough for both.
Nor was it a walk in the park
during his early days as a full
Portuguese international. Winning
his first cap in November 2019 in
a European Championship qualifier
versus Lithuania, he only made three
starts in his opening ten games for his
country and it did seem on occasion
that national coach Fernando Santos
had his reservations. Santos was heavily
criticised in the local media for leaving
Jota out of a Nations League defeat
to France in November 2020.
Coincidentally or not, Diogo has
been an automatic pick ever since.
Jota’s level-headed ability to roll
with the punches has much to do with
his upbringing. His parents, father
Joaquin and mother Isabel, both
factory workers, did not have piles
of spare cash to lavish on Diogo