Liverpool coach Arne Slot can help Diogo Jota become one of the world's best strikers

The 2024/25 campaign is a big one for Diogo Jota.  The 27-year-old is into his fifth season as a Liverpool player now and while he should be a key man for the Reds, his many injuries since moving to Merseyside have seen him relegated to the role of a luxury player.

Nobody really wants to fall into such a category.

It's impossible for him to be anything else while he remains so unreliable. Yes, he's unlucky. And, yes, he's unfortunate. While these are valid reasons for his unreliability, the fact is availability is just as important as ability in football.

He could be one of the best players in the world but if he's missing 20 games a season, you can't build around him. You can't make him an integral player to your system.

This is likely why his exploits for Liverpool go under the radar. It's hard to truly appreciate him as a player when these moments are so fleeting. It's hard to be excited over his return when you know a stint on the sidelines is just around the corner.

The truth is, he is one of the best strikers in the Premier League. He's one of the most productive strikers across Europe.

Across his four Premier League seasons with the club, he's averaged 0.66 goals per 90. To put into context just how remarkable that is, Mohamed Salah, one of the greatest goalscorers in Liverpool history, has only bettered that goals per 90 average on two occasions for the club.

The first time was during his debut season at Anfield when he finished with an outrageous 0.99 goals per 90. The second time was during the 2021/22 campaign when he averaged 0.75 goals per 90.

Remove those two seasons and Salah's goals per 90 average for the Reds, in the Premier League, is 0.6. And he's been a penalty taker. The difference, of course, is that Salah is racking up 3,000 minutes in the English top-flight every single season whereas Jota is averaging just shy of 1,500 across his four years at Anfield.

Jota’s goals per 90 average, over an entire season, would see him post the numbers of a 25-goal-a-season forward, without penalties. He's not a lucky finisher either. He's just a reliable chance-getter.

His non-penalty expected goals per 90 average for the Reds is 0.56. Again, this is an average Salah can only better on two occasions for Liverpool.

Jota's injury hell

This isn't to say Jota is better than Salah. He isn't. It's just adding context to his output in the best way possible and that's by highlighting it against the numbers posted by the best attacker at the club.

During his time at Anfield, he's been in purgatory. And he's unlikely to escape until his injury issues are sorted. Obviously, that's easier said than done.

Some players are just injury prone. It isn't controversial to say Jurgen Klopp's style didn't help things. Liverpool regularly suffered an injury crisis or four every single season. Those you expected to get injured, did so.

The amount of times players suffered a reoccurrence of an injury was, if we're being honest, quite alarming. If Slot and his coaching team can replicate what they managed at Feyenoord by increasing the availability of players, Jota could be one of those to benefit greatly from the new managerial regime.

The focus has been on how Slot can get the best out of Darwin Nunez but perhaps the Dutch tactician will also improve Jota.

He heaped a lot of praise on the No.20 following the win over Arsenal during pre-season.

Slot's praise for Jota

"I think that helps to have someone who naturally plays in that position. Although Arsenal were man-v-man all over the place, then it helps if you have a striker who is smart and is intelligent, knows when to make the deep runs [and] knows when to hold the ball," enthused the 45-year-old.

"I think it was him who bounced the ball towards Harvey, where Harvey could give the assist to Mo. It helps to have someone used to this position, especially if you play a team that is man-v-man all over the pitch."

Slot could be key to helping Jota finally escape purgatory.

If he does, the Portuguese forward would finally get the recognition he deserves.