Former Liverpool defender Andy Robertson revealed summer signings Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz struggled to settle at Anfield because team-mates were grieving Diogo Jota.
Portuguese forward Jota, aged 28, was tragically killed alongside his brother Andre Silva in a car accident in northern Spain in July 2025 as he travelled back to Merseyside for pre-season training. Liverpool had spent a combined £241 million to sign Swedish striker Isak and German playmaker Wirtz that same summer, but the club went on to finish fifth in the Premier League during a difficult, trophyless season.
A Heartbroken Changing Room
Speaking on an episode of the YouTube podcast show The Overlap, hosted by Gary Neville, Robertson described the emotional state of the Liverpool squad when the two high-profile recruits arrived at the club.
"It's difficult to describe or talk about really because what we went through, it was horrendous," Robertson said. "If I'm talking about the new signings, they're coming into a club that is heartbroken. And that is where I felt so sorry for these guys because they had signed and had signed for big money and all."
The Scotland international left-back explained that the grief surrounding Jota's sudden passing completely overshadowed football inside the changing room during the opening months of the season.
"If I'm talking about football, it took them months to settle in because we didn't care about football," Robertson said. "That was the truth of it because we just lost one of your best mates in the changing room."
Loss of Competitive Edge
Robertson spent nine years at Liverpool, winning the Premier League and Champions League before moving to Tottenham Hotspur. He was entering the final year of his contract at Anfield when he received the news that his friend and team-mate had died.
He admitted that the squad lost their determination on the pitch as a direct result of the tragedy, leading to poor performances across the campaign.
"I think all footballers we all have that edge, don't we?" Robertson said. "I think when you lose that edge sometimes, then you can't perform to your best. And I think last season we lost the edge."
"When I look back on it, we lost that maybe determination a little bit, and things like that because I know at times we were going 'What's the point?' Look at what Jotsy's family are going through, look at his kids."
"But yeah, we were grieving as a group," he added. "It was our mate at the end of the day. He's not a footballer to us. He was a team-mate, he was a friend, he was an everything."
Travel Advice and Medical Surgery
Jota and his brother Andre Silva were travelling by road to the northern Spanish port city of Santander in Cantabria to catch a ferry to the United Kingdom. Jota was returning to Liverpool to begin his sixth pre-season with the Merseyside club.
The Portuguese international drove by car because medical professionals had advised him not to travel by plane following lung surgery earlier in the summer.
The fatal accident happened just 11 days after Jota had married his childhood sweetheart Rute Cardoso at a church in Porto, Portugal. Robertson and fellow former Liverpool team-mate Caoimhin Kelleher, the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper, had both travelled to Portugal to attend the wedding.
Grief Across the Squad
Robertson spoke about the devastating contrast between celebrating at his friend's wedding in Porto and attending his funeral shortly afterwards.
"For us, it was incredibly difficult," Robertson said. "I mean, the week before he died, I was at his wedding. That's one of the most difficult things you will ever go through. Seeing him on the happiest day of his life then the next week you are seeing his family torn apart."
Liverpool FC, based at Anfield on Merseyside, faced an emotional struggle throughout the 2025-26 season following the loss of Jota, who had been a key attacker for the club. The £241 million investment in Isak and Wirtz was intended to launch a new era, but the grief shared by players and staff created an atmosphere where football was secondary to supporting Jota's family.
