Jota on fishing the Premier League season

Diogo Jota believes the worldwide interest in the Premier League means it’s important the season is competed, when it’s safe to do so.

Wolves have gone two months without a league match due to the ongoing pandemic, but plans are slowly in motion to bring back football in England’s top tier. Jota last played competitively in front of an empty Olympiacos stadium and, although the situation is far from ideal, the forward knows it’s a necessity if the 2019/20 Premier League campaign is to be completed.

On the Premier League’s influence

“I know that almost every country in the world has the Premier League as one of the leagues to watch, so it is major that we can finish the season, but obviously health is first and when everything is ready to go, we can finish the season.”

On each country being individual

“I think, in my opinion, that we don’t need to look to other countries because each country has its own problem and each country needs to deal individually with its own problems because some countries are in worse scenarios than others.

“Some leagues can end right away, others can start sooner, but I think we will do a good job when we restart the competition.”

On playing behind closed doors

“If you say we don’t finish the season or we finish the season behind closed doors, I think we need to finish the season behind closed doors, but obviously everyone wants the fans in the stadium.

“We play at home with our fans, but even when you play away, you feel the energy of the away fans which is what makes football special and that’s what we want. Maybe we need to go step-by-step and maybe the first step is to play behind closed doors.

“I remember the Olympiacos game and saying to my teammates during lunch ‘lads, this could be our last game in a while’, and it was strange. I do feel now that maybe we shouldn’t have played that one, but we did and now we are here, waiting to start again because that’s what we love to do.”

On not looking at pre-lockdown

“I don’t think we can look back because it will be a big break, so when it starts, it will be like a pre-season for the players. When you don’t play, it’s impossible to be as fit as you were. It will be like a small season, everything can happen.”