I’m not convinced. He’s clearly our best finisher but missed so many games. At 29 that’s not likely to change. Just being available is absolutely massive when we have so many games to play.
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I think we might see them back about the Derby. I think it’s just keeping players fit so they rotate their injuries so to speak. Konate just about did it with Gomez
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Alexander-Arnold with Bradley?
Yeah it’s not an exact science but our seasons have been fucked by injuries to the first one and the replacement.
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Slot said that Jota had an “overloaded shoulder”. This is more than likely related to his rib injury. I don’t think this is a new problem.
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I’m pretty sure he’s here at least next season and then we’ll see as he’s got a deal until 2027 (he’ll be 30 in that summer). It’s not a great record of availability, but not a terrible one either. And he’s at least useful almost whenever he’s fit. In a situation where we might search for a new main man up top, getting rid of Jota doesn’t seem very clever. There’s availability, but there’s also having the right players. Need to be careful which pieces we replace, not put too much on ourselves in a short space of time or one summer window.
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Jota has missed 75 games in 4 and half years.
Nearly 17 games a season
It’s definitely worrying and sad that he might have a LFC career of almost half-healthy, half-injured. But it’s not a situation where we have to get rid. If it was that terrible, he would be gone even before. Can’t count on him to be a key player, but we’re still getting good stuff from him (although it’s not like he hasn’t got his weaknesses as a player).
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Yeah. What an asset he would be if he had Salah or Suarez-like durability
If we had a really stable, firing centre forward, then you could say that perhaps it’s best to replace him. But since that isn’t the case, I say keep him for sure next season and decide what to do as we get closer to 2027.
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If all goes well, Danns might be more ready to play a bigger role by then…
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Hopefully he can come back quickly. Fortunately, he doesn’t need much time to get back up to speed and banging them in again, so let’s cross fingers that it is nothing too bad. 
Looking at his injury record , we should be moving him on.
Even if we get a 30m offer. He seems to have lost half a yard of pace as well. Continuous injuries do that to footballers.
Too bad though, at his peak , and when injury free. His work rate and ability to score crucial goals would be exactly what we would need.
He’s definitely a curious case. 2 years left on his deal, 28 years old (29 in December), and his injuries are a major concern. It would mean we’d need another attacker. If it was up to me, I’d move him on, but I also think in terms of upheaval, the club may be willing to keep him until his contract expires, unless a big offer comes in, which would allow him to remain in the frame for Portugal’s World Cup squad.
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With his injury record you’d be lucky to get 30m
It’s not impossible that he leaves if a few things align (his motive to leave, our motive to get rid, opportunity on the transfer market), but I expect him to stay.
I highly doubt we will replace everyone apart from Salah and Gakpo. Even if we do go from 6 attackers to 5 and even if Frimpong is viewed as someone who can cover at RW.
We also need players and hopefully there will be less pressure on Jota (at least compared to the first half of this season) next season because if will mean we have found new ways (also if Diaz leaves).
And when I say we need players, we need some players who know what we want to do, not only new players.
Slot probably liked him early on (possibly overrated him, or put too much hope?), hence why he entered the season as our first choice striker. Jota as the leading single striker isn’t his best position, we need more than his crafty finishing and quality pressing to be a long term starter for us in such a role.
Then Slot said how it took him a while to get back to a certain level after recovering from his injury, arguable if he even got there in the end.
I mean, we can create an argument to get rid of all of our forwards apart from 1-2, but I’m almost certain that there won’t be so many changes in that area this summer. Priorities first.
And it’s questionable whether we will have enough depth if the only other change we do is Wirtz in for Diaz (and Chiesa and Nunez out). We might need an extra body.
Some less burning questions can be left for another window, we can’t be too wild just because of frustration.
He’s a bit of a Paul Walsh like figure.
When he joined there was a daunting prospect for establishing himself as a regular starter given the players already here. When he played he has looked encouraging, but could never stay injury free long enough to really lock down a place in the side.
Look at all the reasons why we need to get rid of a player that are freely available to read on the internet. Let’s sell him for £30m
In all seriousness, I don’t think we are getting very much for Jota, because of the injuries.
It’s also I think worth noting that Diogo has been very unlucky with the kinds of injuries he’s accumulated, especially the recent ones. There is a lot of him being landed on by groks.
The injury that really impacted him this year was quite a rib/torso injury that (I think) put him in hospital with a punctured lung. I think he was still suffering from that when he returned.
So I wouldn’t be in a huge rush to get rid. He might just need a good preseason, and trust his body again.
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