He kept believing and went from Gondomar to Pacos de Ferreira, then to Porto, Wolverhampton and finally Liverpool.
Jota became a symbol of hope and inspiration back home. He proved to an entire country that it’s possible to reach the top even if the path isn’t a straight line.
The talent had always been there.
So much so that in his early days, when he was starting to draw some attention with Pacos, one of his former coaches, Jorge Simao, made a big claim by saying Jota would be Cristiano Ronaldo’s successor.
The player was obviously surprised to hear that, but immediately thought to himself, ‘If he believes in that, why can’t I do that?’
Jota was a rare case of an elite Portuguese footballer who never spent time at any of the big three academies – Benfica, Sporting and Porto.
“What set him apart from everyone else was really the mental aspect, the way he overcame any situation – and he realised that very quickly,” former Pacos’ youth football coordinator Gilberto Andrade told BBC Sport.
“I think there are moments when, whether you’re a coach, a coordinator, or a director, there are words, things said, that have a great impact on players. At the time, perhaps they don’t fully understand it, but later it reflects in their behaviour, in how they train, in how they live day to day.
“And Jota, I think, to some extent with us, understood what it meant to be a professional player, what it meant to be a good athlete, a good person. He was an example in that regard. An example, because often success leads many players to have a somewhat winding path due to the money they make.
“But that wasn’t the case with him. He was always very disciplined, very intelligent, very humble. He invested wisely, knew what he was doing, helped those he could. So I think this is the image that must remain of him.”
