Liverpool: Diogo Jota will be honoured with ‘respect and affection he deserves’

Liverpool remain focused on responding to the tragedy of Diogo Jota’s death in a car crash but say the forward will be “honoured with the respect and affection he so richly deserves”.

The club’s past and present sporting directors, Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes, said in a joint statement that tributes would be “meaningful and inclusive of supporters”.

Jota was killed along with his younger brother Andre Silva in Zamora in Spain in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Edwards, who rarely makes public statements, was the man who identified Jota at Wolves and negotiated the deal which brought him to Anfield in 2020.

He left the club the following year, but returned 15 months ago as owners Fenway Sports Group’s chief executive of football and immediately brought in Hughes.

In a joint statement they said: “In the coming days, we as a club will look to honour our beloved number 20 with the respect and affection he so richly deserves.

“We will strive to make these tributes meaningful and inclusive of our supporters, to whom Diogo meant so much.

“For now, we express a love that is filled with deep sorrow and pain. We have lost someone truly irreplaceable.

“In such heartbreaking circumstances, it is our responsibility to acknowledge the collective grief we are experiencing, to pay tribute to our Diogo, and to offer unwavering support to his family who remain our absolute priority at this time.

“Of course, we – his Liverpool family – are also struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

“As his team-mates, friends and colleagues, we are consumed by shock and sorrow. We know our supporters, his national team, former clubs and teammates and the wider football community share in this grief.

“This is a tragedy that transcends Liverpool Football Club.”

The club’s own tribute to Jota posted on their website said “the number 20 will be rightly immortalised for his contributions as part of Liverpool’s 2024-25 title-winners – the club’s 20th – with his trademark shimmy and strike in front of the Kop to seal victory in April’s Merseyside derby a poignant last goal of his life”.

There is a growing call for Liverpool to retire Jota’s number 20 shirt. The club, unfortunately, is not a stranger to tragedy having had to negotiate the aftermath of the Hillsborough and Heysel disasters, memorials to which are both present at Anfield.

Ste Hoare, of fan channel The Redmen TV, is confident the club will strike the right tone.

“I’m sure there should – and will – be something. Unfortunately we are a football club who have had to deal with tragic events sometimes and it tends to be whatever Liverpool do is respectful,” he told the PA news agency.

“There’s talk of a shirt number being retired , which could be a nice touch. It’s difficult to know exactly what to do.

“Whatever it is, it will be really sad when that happens because it is such a tragic event and devastating for his family.”

Liverpool have a friendly against Preston a week on Sunday, before travelling to Hong Kong and Japan, returning to Anfield for a double-header against Athletic Bilbao six days before the Premier League champions take on FA Cup winners Crystal Palace in the Community Shield.

But it will be the league opener at home to Bournemouth on August 15 which will be the most difficult for fans.

“It’s going to be very emotional, of course it is. It’s not going to be easy for everyone involved,” added Hoare.

“I am sure Liverpool will get it right as they tend to do these things well – but it also puts it all into perspective.

“This is someone who is 28, dad of three and just got married You have conversations about these guys sometimes like they are just robots: ‘Drop him, buy him, sell him’.

“And these kind of things make you realise they are people, normal fellas.”