Many Benfica and Portuguese fans tout Jota as one of the next-best Portuguese players, so he certainly has a lot to live up to.
Former coaches and present coach Bruno Lage have also praised the young talent, with some claiming he is clearly miles better technically than anyone of his age.”
In this scout report, we will provide an analysis showing Jota’s strengths and areas for improvement to assert himself as Portugal’s next best player in what might be described as a golden generation for Portugal, with the likes of future Barcelona player Trincao and current Atletico Madrid player Joao Felix.
Jota Dribbling and Ball Control
Jota’s stand-out skill is his ability to control the ball, whether that be whilst dribbling or through his first touch.
This often leads to him creating chances for either himself or his teammates by opening up space as he draws more and more defenders towards him.
If we look at a few statistics, we see he is 2nd in the Liga NOS for dribbles per 90 with 7.83 and 3rd for progressive runs per 90 with 2.93.
As can be seen in the final third dribble map above, Jota is a potent dribbler, with many of his dribbles in the same area on the left hand side resulting in a shot, and one resulting in a goal after he fired a shot into the top right corner.
One reason why Jota is a great dribbler is because of his ball control, as he is able to keep the ball close to himself and put himself between the opposing defender and the ball when necessary.
In the
