Liverpool's Diogo Jota, crossing the line and why footballers deserve better

Footballers are human beings.

This is a fundamental element of the game that very often gets ignored by fans, pundits and any other media professionals.

In the age of social media, it's so easy to distract oneself from this fact.

We see the people on the television and we are so desensitised to everything that we don't see them as humans but rather as characters - as if we are watching a Netflix series.

But football is not a Netflix series. The characters in the game are not fictional people but actual tangible human beings with emotions and feelings and their own private lives that deserve to be respected.

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Why Diogo Jota's latest injury has crossed a line

Liverpool's Portuguese forward has often struggled with injury problems at Anfield. This season he has once again found himself on the sidelines, through no fault of his own.

But that doesn't mean he deserves to be the subject of criticism from fans for his inability to stay fit nor for people to pry into his fitness history at the club.

Jota is a human after all and his privacy needs to be respected. That is what the club's head coach Arne Slot has urged everyone to do in his press conference last week.

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Slot was asked about when he expects Jota to be back and he told reporters in his press conference leading up to the Aston Villa game that it would be after the international break.

“We expect him back after the international break… the first weeks after the international break we expect him back," Slot said.

The Dutchman was then pressed further and asked to elaborate on the nature of Jota's injury but Slot refused to do so.

“I always say in Holland there is privacy about this and I don’t know how it is over here. Like I just said, he will be back one or two weeks after the international break," Slot concluded.

He is absolutely right.

Jota needs to be left alone to recover from his injury. People prying into the details of when he will be back and what the extent of his injury is are crossing the line.

Footballers are human. They have lives, feelings and emotions too. Even if that is impossible to fathom for some - it's true.

Now it's time to heed Slot's words and leave Jota alone.

Let him heal and in time, when he is ready to return and fit, the Reds will have a formidable player on their hands.

If there is one thing everyone can agree about, it's certainly that last point. So, let's keep our fingers crossed we'll see him on the pitch soon.

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