Diogo Jota’s Slow Progress Explained

Prior to the game against Leicester City a little over a week ago, Jurgen Klopp said that Diogo Jota still had some road to cover on his recovery journey.

“Diogo [will be] two or three weeks, maybe. Probably the medical department hits me now, but I think that’s kind of possible, back in full training and then we will see how long it takes.”

This week, in a Q&A session for The Athletic, James Pearce offered a little insight into the medical department’s game-plan for Jota, which was lengthier than usual.

“Six to eight weeks was the hope which would have put him back in action by late Jan/early Feb,” Pearce said. “However, it was always going to depend on how Jota responded to different stages of the rehab process.”

“Also since Andreas Schlumberger joined the staff in December, there’s been a greater focus on players who have done their rehab after injury doing extra work before being given the green light to return to full training,” he added.

Dr. Schlumberger was recruited as Liverpool’s new head of recovery and performance in December 2020 to occupy a newly created role to work with the rest of the club’s medical staff.

“It’s all part of trying to ensure that when players come back from injury they don’t break down again”, Pearce said.

Rumours are afloat that Jota could return to Liverpool training this week. If true, he could then optimistically be available for Liverpool’s second leg tie against RB Leipzig in the Champions League, the only tournament offering us any hope at this point. Fingers crossed.