The year 2020 has thrown up shitstorms by the minute. But in football, if there was one good thing to come out of 2020, it was a certain Portuguese winger lighting up the Premier League in a red shirt.

It's been years since we've seen a winger from Portugal torment England's top flight. The last one certainly left an impression, taking his place in the higher echelons of the sport's greatest. There's something a little different about Liverpool's Diogo Jota, though. The Premier League champions' No 20 isn't a showboat, dipping into his bag of tricks for an assortment of stepovers. He is, however, a right menace.

The Fates spun the thread of Diogo Jota's future with Liverpool when the pandemic struck. Before the global health crisis held the world hostage, Liverpool's plan was to trigger Timo Werner's reported £53 million release clause. The German international had been widely scouted by the Reds and Werner himself was intrigued at the prospect of taking his game to the next level under a manager famed for developing players.

When that plan was torn up to bits, Liverpool had to think on their feet. Their analytical department headed by Dr Ian Graham, though, already had a replacement lined up. A doctor in the field of theoretical physics, Graham himself claims recruitment is “the reason I was brought in”.

His department had earlier earmarked Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Fabinho as transformational signings. Diogo Jota profiled similar to Liverpool's all-star world-beating wingers.

At Brighton this weekend, Diogo Jota once again came up with the goods. After a neat touch from Salah, Jota left Brighton's 3-man backline and Mat Ryan in the dust, squeezing his finish into the bottom corner. The sight of Adam Webster being turned inside out by the winger's dummy said it all. This was his eighth goal in his last eight games for Liverpool. That's a total of nine strikes in 14 appearances since making the switch from the Molineux.  Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders describes him as “a pressing machine” while Klopp will soon run out of superlatives for a man who many believed Liverpool had overpaid for this summer.

For the past two years, Liverpool's bench lacked a gamechanger. Sure, Divock Origi had etched his name into Liverpool's illustrious history with his knack of turning up at odd moments. When entrusted with a larger responsibility, though, the Belgian striker was found wanting.

In Diogo Jota, the Reds found a young, spiky winger, willing to press the opposition from the get-go and a player with a high ceiling for development. There was a belief at Wolves in his last season at the Molineux that the 23-year-old had plateaued. Nuno Espirito Santo was looking to move away from his counter-attacking approach towards a more controlled style and Jota was a pure counter-attacking machine.

At £45 million, this has represented one of those few pieces of business to have benefitted both parties. Wolves signed a few more of Jorge Mendes' clients and the Premier League champions finally added a versatile forward capable of playing anywhere across the front three, always carrying the threat of goal with his scrappy persona.

It isn't easy to force your way into Klopp's forward line. Just ask Xherdan Shaqiri, Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino. Salah, Mane and Firmino are three players who have honed chemistry that is so striking to watch that their idiosyncratically brilliant football has been heralded from all quarters. To come in and effortlessly fit into that front three, making it a fabulous front four at times, is a testament to Jota's journey as a player.

From being initially snubbed by Porto, to failing to make the cut at Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid in the middle of a transfer ban, to being deemed surplus to requirements at Wolves after gaining promotion, Jota has already come a long way at 23 years of age. Approaching each game as a boxer ready to claim a belt, the young Portugal international will only grow as a player alongside Liverpool's fearsome and technically brilliant front three. They are the crown jewels of the side but Jota... Jota is the... well, it's better to hear Jota speak about what kind of player he is.

"I’m a special kind of winger, let’s put it that way.”

Illustration: Zayceeann Alvares