DIOGO JOTA’S family have been paid the full £14.5M that was left of the tragic striker’s contract.
The Liverpool star died alongside brother Andre Silva in a car accident in July leaving behind wife Rute Cardosa and the couple’s three children.
Jota’s weekly wage was around £140,000 a week, with two years remaining of the deal that was due to expire in 2027.
Boss Arne Slot confirmed that the contract would be honoured by club owners Fenway Sports Group, saying: “Maybe people think it’s normal, but it is not in football.
“Owners are mainly criticised, like managers, but the way they’ve handled this situation, by paying his wife and his children all the money from the contract [is commendable].”
In the wake of Jota’s death early in July, Slot had begun the £426million spending splurge that would result in the signings of strikers Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak for a combined £199m.
The Reds boss told TNT Sports: “Unfortunately, we had to bring one player more in than we were… than what was the plan.
“That’s why our spending was higher than intended.
“The grief of the city, that is what makes it for me so special to work at this club.
“To work at a club where there is success and there is a parade, of course this parade is bigger than any parade everywhere around the world.
“But the way they conducted, the fans themselves, after that tragedy, how many flowers there were, all the memorials.
“I can almost get emotional thinking about it. It’s unbelievable what our fans have done.
“Our players as well, the way they have conducted themselves in and around the funeral. Then we have to train again.
“There are moments where I feel, ‘What must his wife and his children feel now?’.”
Within days of the tragedy there were indications that FSG would pay up the full contract, Liverpool chairman Tom Werner having taken steps to support wife Rute and the children.
He said of the Portuguese whose number 20 was permanently retired in his honour: “He was an extraordinary person.
“He was beloved, not because he was the leading goal scorer, he was beloved because he was genuinely kind.”
Chelsea players also donated a significant portion of their £11.4million Club World Cup bonus to Jota’s family.
Read the full article here
