Michael Edwards’ highlights as Liverpool’s sporting director, at this stage, are no great secret.
The list of players to have flourished since Edwards played a hand in bringing them to the club includes Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Andrew Robertson to name just a few, while his ability to negotiate on the outward front has seen Liverpool generate envious funds from their sales of Dominic Solanke, Danny Ward and Mamadou Sakho.
But Edwards added another masterstroke to his resume this summer with a surprise swoop for Diogo Jota, a forward who at times last season wasn’t even an automatic starter for Wolves.
£45m felt like a big price to pay to see if he could make the jump up to Anfield, even more so during a summer where Liverpool would need to find a way of genuinely improving a title-winning side.
Fast forward to present day, however, and Jota has already established himself as an attacking talent worthy of rotating Liverpool’s traditional front three to try and make room for. Eight Premier League outings have resulted in five goals, while five Champions League appearances have seen four strikes netted.
There’s a legitimate case for Jota being Liverpool’s player of the season so far, and certainly the Premier League’s acquisition of the summer.
Two goals in November have earned him a nomination for the GIVEMESPORT Fans’ Player of the Month award - which you can get involved in by voting at the bottom of this article, or by visiting https://www.footballfancast.com/fan-awards.
In the meantime though, and in a bid to illustrate just how impressive Jota’s been since moving to Anfield, we’ve taken a quick look back at what the pundits have said about him this season…
“The impact Jota is having on Liverpool since his arrival on Merseyside has been quite extraordinary.
“It normally takes a player anything up to three months to settle into a new team, particularly if that arrival is after the season has started. Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish had similar impacts when they arrived at Anfield in the 1970s but there are not many like that.
“Portugal striker Jota has not only hit the ground running, he's setting records. Four goals in four consecutive games at Anfield gives you some indication of his influence.
“Leicester, who have been tipped as one of the teams that might compete with Liverpool for the title, looked ordinary at best and even out of their depth on occasions. The main reason was due to their inability to handle Jota, who looked electric.
“Jota's arrival at Anfield just might be the reason they retain the title.”
“Not many people were sitting there going, ‘let’s get Jota’ but what he’s saying to Klopp is, ‘you can’t afford to drop me, I’m banging in goals week-in, week-out.’
“That’s what you want at a top club, you want players coming in and having an impact immediately, saying to other players, ‘yeah you guys are great, I watched you last season, but I’m here to raise the bar.’
“That’s what he seems to be doing. He’s been nothing short of a phenomenal signing.”
“Diogo Jota, talk about hitting the ground running. He was all over the place. He started on the right of the three, where Salah plays normally, drifts into the holes into the centre of the pitch, because he’s so desperate to get on the scoresheet and make an impact on the game.
“He mixes his game up well, dropping deep, linking up the play. And what I like about him is the amount of runs he makes off the ball, which is what all good players do.
“And it’s also the fact of his bravery to go and find spaces, wait, and the intensity of his runs.
“He keeps getting in there, he’s a brilliant option, another source of goals for Liverpool and he deserves credit for how he’s adapted. For any defender picking him up, it must be a nightmare.”
“No one could’ve predicted that he would hit the ground running like he has. You’d have to say he’s the best signing of the season so far in the Premier League.
“He’s surprised me with his pace, I must admit. I think he’s far quicker than I gave him credit for. Against Atalanta he was electric. He just shows composure; a lot of people panic, they just get a shot off as soon as they get any form of space.
“I just think he’s scored headers, right foot, left foot, he’s scored everything so far and he’s looked the real deal in terms of linking play. Nobody could have envisaged the quality that he’s shown so far.”
“There's no doubt he's a huge upgrade on what Liverpool had in terms of back-up last season.
“And the fact we're having a discussion about Liverpool's front three and whether someone could actually break up that front three shows it's a major addition.
“We never had that conversation last season with the players that came in, one of them being Shaqiri, Divock Origi as well.”
Do you think Jota deserves this month’s GMS Fans’ award? Get involved in the voting below…