Diogo Jota is not the first name that comes to mind when you think of the most important players in this current Liverpool team. However, the Portuguese forward’s contribution to the team cannot be overemphasized, which explains why Jurgen Klopp holds him in very high regard despite his recent injury woes and inconsistencies.
One thing many fans don’t know about the former Wolves player is that ‘Jota’ is not his real name, despite wearing the name on the back of his jersey for most of his career. So, what is Diogo Jota’s real name, and why has he been wearing a different name on his back?
Reason behind Diogo Jota using a different name on his jersey
Many know the Liverpool man by the name ‘Jota’, but he spent his younger years going by a different name entirely. The former Wolves forward came through the ranks at Pacos de Ferreira, where most of his teammates had names with either Silva or Diogo in them.
With the full name of Diogo Jose Teixeira Da Silva, Jota wanted to have a different name to stand out from his other teammates who had similar names, so he adopted the name ‘Diogo J’, with the J standing for Jose.
However, he quickly became known as simply Jota, which is the Portuguese pronunciation of the letter ‘J’. Diogo Jota moved to Wolves in 2017 after spells at Atletico Madrid and Porto and wore the name ‘Silva’ on his back in his first season at the club, in which he helped the club gain promotion back to the Premier League.
Wolves provided an answer to the confusion on Twitter in 2017 when asked by fans what Jota’s real name was. “This is part of his surname. Jota is just a nickname he has become known by.”
Jota is now part of the Liverpool team that has put injuries woes behind to be at the top of the table with a three-point lead over second-placed Aston Villa.
Diogo Jota to lead the line in absence of Mohamed Salah
The African Cup of Nations kickstarts in less than two weeks, which means Liverpool will be without Mohamed Salah for the duration of the tournament, giving Diogo Jota the chance to impress in the Egyptian’s absence.
Salah, who was the subject of controversy last week due to his Christmas message, is expected to be in the Egypt camp this week in preparation for the AFCON, which kickstarts on January 13th. Egypt will kickstart their AFCON campaign against Mozambique on January 14th before facing off with Ghana four days later.
The Pharaohs will face Cape Verde in the final game of the group stage and are expected to progress deep into the latter stages of the competition. Egypt made it to the finals of the last AFCON tournament but was beaten by Sadio Mane’s Senegal, who claimed the first AFCON of his career.
Can Mohamed Salah and Egypt make it to back-to-back AFCON finals this year?
