On his 25th birthday, and after making his debut for the national team as a result of his work with Vitória SC over the last two seasons, Silva moved to England just five years after making his debut in Portugal's district leagues.
Flashscore tells you the story of the man who has become a true role model for youngsters.
The injury that awakened the warrior
Football is a world of opportunities and multiple paths. For some the path is apparently easier, for others the challenges are enormous and constantly test their ability to overcome. Jota Silva is one of the latter.
The winger grew up far from the limelight. Born in Melres, a small town in the municipality of Gondomar, Jota didn't come up through the ranks of the big boys. He grew up and lived in "his" Souselas. He wasn't one of those kids who now make the headlines after half a dozen games, nor was he seen as someone who could be worth millions. But that never stopped him from dreaming big, even when the world seemed to fall apart at one of the most important moments in the footballing life of a young man full of dreams.
It was during pre-season with Sousense's seniors in 2016/17, competing in the Portuguese Championship, that the click came. He was 16 and was told "you can't do it any more". It would have been easy to give up at that point, but no. That's when he realised he could make it as a professional.
"I think that was the key moment when I realised I could make it. I managed to overcome a serious injury in record time. It was a lot of hard work, then I made my first team debut and from then on I was ready to chase my dream. I really believed in it," he said in an interview with zerozero.
And he was (still) far from imagining the flight that would take him to the main stages of national and international football.
'I have no doubt that you'll get there'
Even before his stardom, Jota spent time with Paços de Ferreira's youth team, where he even trained with the Beavers' first team, but had to return home to Sousense before he could stop. He began his career in the district of AF Porto, made the leap to the Portuguese Championship, then the equivalent of the 3rd tier of national football, where he met one of the coaches he himself considers to be one of the most important in his still short career: João Ferreira. Flashscore went to meet this very important figure in the winger's life.
"I'd spoken to a few people about Jota, but I'd never seen him play when we decided to sign him for Espinho. I can tell you that he was signed to be an alternative to our first choices, but we were shocked in the first few training sessions by his ability to work. I remember vividly the first conversation I had with my coaching staff about him: 'This boy, watch out! He 's going to give us a lot of trouble'," recalls the coach, speaking to our website.
"He's extraordinary and has a fantastic commitment to training. For him, Saturday training is the same as Tuesday or Wednesday. He's very convinced of what he's worth and what he has to do. The first memory I have of him is the way he dedicated himself to each training session. Honestly, it wasn't what we expected - and that's a good thing - and it turned out to be a beautiful journey in Espinho. I'm very grateful that he came our way," he says.
The link with the Campeonato de Portugal club was extremely successful, but there was a time when Jota was at odds with the goal.
"There was a phase when he wasn't being as consistent in terms of goals, but I kept betting on him because he gave us so many other things. I remember a conversation I had with him in the game in which he broke that streak. I said to him: 'I have no doubt you'll get there'. I didn't know if it was the national team, a big club or abroad, but I knew that La Liga was the minimum. We saw the commitment and competitive spirit he had. Fortunately, it paid off," he says.
His arrival in the pros
His fantastic season in Espinho opened the door to the professional world. He made the step up to Leixões and went on to Casa Pia, where he was one of the stars of the Geese's return to the top tier of national football after an 83-year absence and earned the nickname "Grealish de Pina Manique". The rest is history!
"I have fond memories of Jota. He was always very focused and committed to himself and the team. I could already see that he could and wanted to reach another level," Romeu Ribeiro, Jota's former team-mate at Casa Pia, recently told Flashscore.
"He's an extremely simple, humble and correct young man. He has the ideal attitude to be in a football changing room. When he arrived he was shy, but as the weeks went by he became more open and I can say that he's outgoing," added the former midfielder.
An opinion corroborated by coach Filipe Martins, currently in charge of Estrela da Amadora, who also met the young Portuguese at Pina Manique: "He's a very professional athlete, who looks after himself very well and who, above all, combines several things that are useful in football, such as attacking from deep, scoring goals and playing with his head. He's a natural worker, who helps the team a lot from a defensive point of view, very supportive, and his intensity is out of the ordinary."
"What I saw and see in him is an athlete with a strong, winning mentality. Even when things aren't going well for him and the team, he never gives up the fight," he adds.
From Castelo to the national team
His 14 goals and four assists in 2021/22 put Jota on the radar of several clubs, but it was Vitória Sport Clube who managed to grab the youngster from Gondomar. After a first season of adapting to a new reality, the winger rose to the top of the Castelo to become one of the team's figures... and the league's.
The winger quickly won a place in the hearts of the fervent Victorian fans. His (many) goals and assists in 2023/24 helped create that deep bond. And the records are impressive: Vitória SC hadn't seen a Portuguese goalscorer as prolific as Jota Silva in a single season for more than 40 years, and that performance didn't go unnoticed by anyone, not even the national coach himself, Roberto Martínez.
In November 2021, when he was still looking to make a name for himself in Liga 2, the winger knew where he wanted to go and what he would have to do to achieve his goals. "I want to go to the national team, it's a dream of mine and I know I'm going to make it". It only took three years. It was written in Jota Silva's book.
"I didn't have good conditions at the clubs I played for at the start of my career, but I had to show results. That always stays with me and moulds my personality. One motto I take into my life is that you don't need much to be happy. Success depends on work and if you want to be successful you have to work hard," said Jota at the time of his call-up on 15 March 2024, in an interview with The Guardian.
More than the side that is visible to the average fan - the footballing quality of the now former Vitória SC number 11 - there is a more personal side that helps explain this journey. So let's go back to João Ferreira, who helps us understand the simplicity of the man Jota Silva.
"People look at the more visible side, but don't be fooled. Jota has only achieved this beautiful career because of the way he trains and because of the professional he is. He's always, always been very professional!" he notes.
"He's a special individual. That's the only way he's managed to make this journey in such a short space of time. Representing Vitória SC and making it to the national team is beyond the norm. (...) He made sure that I was close to him when he made his debut for the national team and that says a lot about him as a person. That affectionate and professional way in which he respects his profession 100 per cent says everything about him. I also know that he has a family, a manager and a girlfriend who help him a lot," he says.
"He knows his limitations, but he doesn't know his limits"
The page of Jota's professional life has now turned. Aimed at Sporting and FC Porto, his destination is the Premier League. The next chapter is Nottingham Forest, a historic English club, a European champion, which announced its arrival on the very day the Portuguese player turned 25. What an example!
"He's going to challenge himself in a stratospheric competition, with even better team-mates and in even more aggressive environments, and that's going to elevate him even more and I know he's going to give himself body and soul. I'm sure he believes that there's no-one who can tell him he can't succeed," says João Ferreira.
In a constant obstacle course, Jota has been happy. "I think he knows what his limitations are, but he doesn't know his limits. That's very important for any professional."
Finally, asked to leave a public message for his former pupil, even as a way of repaying all the affection the player makes a point of expressing for him, João Ferreira gets emotional.
"Jota, stay the way you are and keep fighting for what you believe in and keep showing that all dreams can be realised as long as we have a lot of faith and work. I'll always be here."
