“I can see a bit of myself in Diogo Jota’s style,” Jota Silva says. “He is a great player.” The Vitória de Guimarães winger speaks with humility and deference. He cites Cristiano Ronaldo “as an example” for his generation of Portuguese footballers and there is a sense that after a slow start it is all beginning to come together for Jota.
The 24-year-old was last week called into Portugal’s squad for the first time for friendlies against Sweden on Thursday and Slovenia five days later. Jota has 15 goal contributions (nine goals and six assists) in 25 league games, helping Vitória to fifth in the Primeira Liga. Next month, the club have a Taça de Portugal semi-final against Porto, offering another potential route into Europe.
Responsibility has been heaped on Jota to carry Vitória to new heights. Affectionately known within club circles as the Portuguese Jack Grealish, he has taken on the challenge of being one of the main players at a club based about 35 miles from where he was born in the north of the country. “It’s a great club; the fans are very passionate about the club and the city,” he says, pointing out an average attendance of 20,000.
“Vitória provides us with the best conditions for us to be at our best and help the club achieve its goals. With this support base that follows us everywhere, everything becomes easier.”
Jota name-checks his teammates Tomás Händel, Tiago Silva and Ricardo Mangas as players with “incredible quality and characteristics” who could take Vitória to the Champions League. Jota has gone up a level this season. Wolves and Milan were among the clubs credited with interest in signing him over the past 12 months and it is easy to understand why when you see him in full flow. The low socks, the hair, the trickery. Grealish comparisons are valid but his assertion that he could follow Diogo Jota’s footsteps is not far fetched either.
The form of the Sporting forward Viktor Gyökeres is raising eyebrows further afield but in Portugal the feeling, at least earlier in the season, was that Jota was outshining the former Coventry striker. Jota won two consecutive player of the month awards at the back end of last year.
While at UD Sousense as a 17-year-old, a tackle by an opposing goalkeeper in pre-season left Jota with a broken leg. He has rebounded not only from that setback but from being released in 2021 by Leixões. Between times he had a spell with Paços de Ferreira. “My time at Paços de Ferreira in my final year as a junior was extremely important,” he says. “It was the first time I had contact with a professional club that was so well organised. I loved it there and it was incredible and important for my development.”
Bernardo Silva took a selfie with Jota Silva to show Grealish he has a Portuguese double 🤣 pic.twitter.com/U3AIcHzTnd
— Marino Peixoto (@marinovpeixoto) March 19, 2024
Jota has come a long way from his first €150-a-month salary at Sousense. The call-up to the Portugal squad from Roberto Martínez has realised one of his big ambitions. He says: “I want to reach the top of world football. I want to play in the Champions League and my dream is to reach the national team. That’s why I’m working.”
Most of Jota’s family hail from the north, and his home village, Vilarinho, is one hour from Porto’s Estádio do Dragão, the team most of his loved ones support. “It’s a small village in Gondomar, where everyone knows each other, and being able to be at ease in the streets playing football is always good,” he says. “I had a fantastic childhood. It’s how I play now.”
It gave him a taste for more than football. “The food is really good in the north,” Jota says. “I wouldn’t swap my mum’s cooking for anything.” His favourite dish is arroz de cabidela, a dish native to the northern Minho region, in which rice and chicken are cooked with vinegar, chicken blood and spices.
Jota describes himself as “a homebody”, in touch with his more modest beginnings. “I didn’t have good conditions [facilities] at the clubs I played for at the start of my career but I had to show results. That always stays with me and moulds my personality. A motto I take into my life is that you don’t need much to be happy. Success depends on work and if you want to be successful you have to work hard.”
The more Jota demonstrates his ability and the louder the noise over his form, the more likely it appears that he will follow other Portuguese players in making an impact abroad.
