Adama Traore and Diogo Jota have started either side of Raul Jimenez in the last two Premier League fixtures against Arsenal and Aston Villa, and impressed as a trio. Since then, Jota made his international debut, Jimenez scored for Mexico and Adama Traore has been working hard in Wolverhampton in a bid to prove his fitness for the Bournemouth trip, and Nuno is pleased with the contributions of all three.
On Jota returning to his best
“He was injured and had to stop for a little while, but he’s better now and we’ve been trying to increase his participation within the game, but now I can say he’s totally ready to compete at his best level.
“What I expect, not only him, is to, in every moment of every game, to do good and better things.”
On Jota’s international debut
“Diogo’s been a lot of times involved in the national team of Portugal. He had his chance and he helped Portugal achieve something amazing – direct qualification for Euro 2020.
“We are pleased with all of the players that went on an international break. I think it was very important for all of them because they had time to compete and help their country, and when you return healthy you are ready to go.
“You work at your club then have a chance to go to your national team, and you participate and help your country, it’s a moment of enormous pride. He’s very proud of what he’s achieving, but at the same time he has the ambition to continue improving and hopefully participating more minutes with the national team.”
On Jimenez’s form
“The game of Raul goes beyond the goal. He’s a very important player for the team, he’s doing fantastic and we want him to continue and, if it’s possible, to improve. He’s a very important player, like all the players, very, very important.
“Not only this season, since last season he’s been amazing. He’s always available to listen and give something else, and this is the space of improvement that we expect from all the players.
“We still believe that he can do better than he’s already doing. What he does goes beyond these specific moments, he works very hard in every moment of the game.”
On Traore improving
“He’s getting better, he also has a lot of space to improve. Nothing is finished and we have to keep on working, not only Adama but all the squad has a lot of room to improve.
“We recruit based on a lot of things, but we don’t recruit based on how hungry they are – we expect them to be hungry when they join us because this is a massive club and there is no space for not having this ambition to improve individually, at the same time, improve the team.”
