Watch Lincoln City vs Liverpool in the third round of the Carabao Cup from 7.30pm on Thursday, live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event.
Thursday 24 September 2020 06:42, UK
Diogo Jota has the same technical ability as Liverpool's front three of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah, according to assistant manager Pep Lijnders.
Liverpool signed Portugal international Jota from Wolves on Saturday for a fee of £40m, which could rise to £45m, with the forward in contention to make his Reds debut against Lincoln in the Carabao Cup on Thursday, live on Sky Sports.
Lijnders, who was assistant manager at Porto up until 2014 before Jota emerged into first-team contention at fellow Portuguese club Paços de Ferreira in 2014, is convinced the 23-year-old's game style will ensure he has an immediate impact at Anfield.
"Diogo, his technical level is the same as our front three," said Lijnders, who was conducting media duties instead of manager Jurgen Klopp for the cup tie at Lincoln.
"He has future in his feet. He will have a great pathway inside our club. He is like a pressing monster so he will fit in straight away."
Lijnders is understood to have been influential in Liverpool's decision to pursue a move for Jota, who joined Wolves on loan in their 2017-18 Championship-winning campaign before making a permanent switch in 2018.
"I know him since he was very young. In Portugal they say what a great signing Liverpool have made because they know exactly how he is and what kind of potential he still has," Lijnders added.
"We are really happy with him and all the things we heard [about him] are true. He is very professional, very dedicated, passionate and brave player."
Fellow summer signing Thiago Alcantara made his debut as a substitute against Chelsea on Sunday and Lijnders expects the Spain international to have a pivotal influence on the squad's defence of the Premier League title this season.
"We are really happy he is with us, this team deserves a player like him because he will keep us evolving," he said.
"Teams adapt, teams try to destroy our plans and we need to stay unpredictable.
"Unpredictability means that from each position we can play the last pass and we can speed up the game as much as we can. Thiago does that for us - he is a great signing for us. We haven't bought a problem - we have bought a solution."
Lijnders echoed Klopp's mantra that the club would look to attack all four competitions they will compete in this season, with the squad expected to be a mix of experienced first-team players and younger members of the first-team set-up.
"[For] Tomorrow, I can only say the good thing over the last years is this group created a mentality to see the next game as a final," said Lijnders.
"The team who will represent us will be a good team, a strong team. They will show hunger, they will show desire to put our game in place."
Captain Jordan Henderson will be absent for the trip to Lincoln and is a doubt for Monday's home Premier League match against Arsenal due to a minor muscle issue sustained in last weekend's win against Chelsea.
Joel Matip is also expected to be ruled out until after next month's international break due to a hamstring injury, but fellow centre-back Joe Gomez is set to resume training on Friday.
Watch Lincoln City vs Liverpool in the third round of the Carabao Cup from 7.30pm on Thursday, live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event.
