Liverpool were rampant in their 4-0 victory over Bournemouth with Diogo Jota stepping up in Mohamed Salah’s absence, but did Jamie Carragher go too far with these comparisons?
What did Carragher say?
Jota had an incredible game, scoring two and assisting one which led to some crazy comments from Carragher. Carragher claims that Jota is a better striker than Michael Owen, Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres. Carragher even compared him to Robbie Fowler.
He said: “I think of some of the strikers I’ve played alongside: Michael Owen, Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres, Robbie Fowler. I think he [Jota] is the best finisher.
“Robbie Fowler maybe could be ahead of him in terms of pure finishing, hard and low, into the corner. But his two goals against Bournemouth are typical Jota. When he gets the chance he is so clinical.
“This season, he’s got a goal or an assist every 84 minutes. There’s only two or three players in the Premier League who are higher than that.
Those two players are Erling Haaland and Salah. Salah has a goal or assist every 79 minutes and Haaland has a goal or assist every 72 minutes (which will improve with Kevin De Bruyne back).
Jota’s Liverpool career
Liverpool signed Jota from Wolves for £41m in 2020. The Portuguese striker had scored 44 goals for Wolves in the space of three seasons.
Since joining Liverpool, Jota has struggled with injuries which has stopped him reaching his full potential. Last season he missed over 25 of Liverpool’s games due to calf and hamstring problems.
Regardless of that, he has managed to score 52 goals for the Reds with many more to come. His best season came in 2021/22, in which he scored 21 goals.
Jota’s striker comparison
How does Jota fare when being put next to Liverpool’s best strikers? Jota is in his fourth season at Liverpool, which is how many seasons that Torres played for Liverpool. Torres had scored 91 goals for Liverpool before joining Chelsea in January 2011.
Suarez also spent four years with Liverpool, he scored 82 goals.
Maybe Jota could reach Michael Owen’s number of goals. He spent nine season in the Liverpool senior squad and managed 118 goals. Jota will be 32-years-old in five years but Liverpool will hope he’s still at the club.
Maybe without injuries, Jota would’ve scored more goals but he will continue to help the Liverpool team.
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