'Jota is even better than what Liverpool thought of him'

The Portuguese has made a flying start to his Reds career, with even Liverpool star Wijnaldum being caught by surprise.

Georginio Wijnaldum has praised new Liverpool teammate Diogo Jota’s impressive start and revealed the forward is ‘even better than we thought’.

Despite enjoying tremendous success with his famed attacking trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmino, Jurgen Klopp invested €44.7m in September to sign a new forward in Jota from Wolves.

The decision may have raised a few eyebrows at the time, but Jota’s impressive start has quashed doubts.

The 24-year-old has already scored nine goals in 15 appearances, including five in the Premier League, and could face Wolves for the first time since his departure on Sunday.

“I think he will be really happy to play against his old team,” Wijnaldum told the club’s website.

“I’m always happy when I play against Newcastle because that’s my only other team [in the Premier League].

“For him, I think it’s different because he played more seasons for Wolves than I played for Newcastle. For him, I think it’s much bigger than what I have with Newcastle. It’s going to be a really, really big game for him and also a game he can enjoy.

“I’m really impressed because I already knew how good he was, but now I can see that he’s even better than what we thought of him.

“Now we train with him, we play games with him, so we can really see what kind of player he is, what kind of quality player he is. I think he’s showed it with the start he’s had at the club.”