The image in the minds eye is one of exuberance, of optimism. It is the memory of that small but sturdy frame scampering after the ball, hunting opportunities, that will endure. Diogo Jota just loved playing football.
That always shone through when watching him. But he was much more than a footballer. He was a father and a son. Tragically, he also became a husband just days before his passing in Zamora at the age of 28 years old.
The sadness is overwhelming. Jotas route to the top with Liverpool and Portugal was a little different to many of his peers. Unusually for a Portuguese player of such potential, he had not been part of the famed academies of Benfica, Sporting or Porto when he was a young teenager.
But it was not just that. Jota was still paying to play at local club Gondomar when he was 16. Sort of. Speaking to him about that three years ago, he actually made a point of correcting that detail. It was not me paying, it was my parents.
He was still grateful and wanted it made clear. In Portugal, things are different to England, he explained that afternoon in 2022. I was playing for a small club and we had to pay monthly to be able to play.
It was only when I was transferred to Pacos [de Ferreira in 2013] that I started to receive some money. Talking to Vasco Seabra, his coach at Pacos, he provided an insight into just how far Jota came to go from the fringes of Portuguese football to playing in a Champions League final.
Seabra even had to write to the Portuguese FA just to get them to come see him. I remember sending an email to our national team U19 coach. Seabra just knew. It is his character, he explained. Diogo is an amazing person.
I am not even talking about him as a player because he is obviously amazing. But as a person. You would think that the really good players would not listen when told to receive the ball in here or try to be better at that.
You might think that they are so good that you can let them play. It is the opposite. The best players are humble and want to learn. I once asked Jota where that came from. This hunger has been with me ever since I can remember.
In my youth, growing up, I never played for the big teams. I had a few team-mates who went to Porto or Benfica. I had trials there but I never stayed. I was one of the better ones but never the best. Humble.
Self-aware. Driven. That was also a fun conversation. Jota was at adidas HQ in Stockport filming for the release of a new football boot but took time out to sit down and chat through his career. He was warm and engaging company, talking about much more than just football.
He spoke of his joy at spending time with family and what that meant. Then he smiled. I am also waiting for FIFA 23 to come out. I just love that game. He was the master at it, winning a tournament among Premier League players during the pandemic.
No rivals. I very, very rarely ask for pictures with players. But I did with him. Mainly, it was because I felt privileged to have witnessed his rise close up. The first time that I saw Jota play in the flesh was in Porto against Leicester in the Champions League.
He scored the fifth goal in the Estadio do Dragao that night, just days after turning 20. A career crackling with possibility. He arrived in English football the following summer, joining Wolves, the club I supported as a boy, even moving in next door to my aunt and uncle.
He was an instant hit, scoring 17 goals in that title-winning season in the Championship, clearly a cut above the competition alongside Ruben Neves. At the beginning, some had suggested these Portuguese kids might not be able to cope with the cut and thrust of life in Englands second tier, particularly based in a less than prosperous city in the West Midlands.
They did not know Jota. He embraced it. Upon promotion to the Premier League, it took a little time to adjust but a change of position ignited his season that December, scoring a winner against Chelsea before going on to get his first hat-trick in English football in a dramatic 4-3 defeat of Leicester.
He scored in Molineux wins over Manchester United two weeks apart. He netted against Arsenal. In the following season, there were two more hat-tricks against Besiktas and Espanyol as the club that he had joined in the Championship prospered in Europe.
Such successes caught the eye of Liverpool. A fee in excess of £40m felt big for a player who was not guaranteed a starting spot at Wolves. But just this week Wolves chairman Jeff Shi said it was the sale that he regretted most.
Liverpool spotted something. Speaking last year to Ian Graham, Liverpools former director of research, he outlined exactly what that was. He was a really interesting one because we did go back and forth with the video analysis department.
We knew he didnt play in the formation as a wide forward, but the way he interpreted that role did make him look more like a Liverpool wide forward. In five seasons at Liverpool, Jota won everything there was to win in English football, scoring 65 goals in 182 appearances.
There were injuries and the odd drought, but so many important interventions, popping up at key moments when Liverpool needed him. Jamie Carragher once called him the best finisher at the club. Another memory.
One nil down to Nottingham Forest in January, he emerged off the bench to score the equaliser just 22 seconds after entering the field. In April, he scored the winner against Everton in the Merseyside derby.
It is difficult now to think about the fact that those were his last two goals. There was so much more to come, not just on the pitch but mainly off it. A life still to live. If there is any comfort whatsoever, it comes from the thought that he did more than he dreamed.
I probably did not believe that I could reach Liverpool, he admitted that day in Stockport. But he did more than that. He made memories to cherish.
