Wolves comment: Diogo Jota proves he’s where he truly belongs

He is the one who has benefited the most from Nuno Espirito Santo’s tweak to the Wolves team.

Jota’s utterly ruthless hat-trick heroics against Leicester proved he is a striker – and a top one.

He tormented the Foxes defence with lovely touches, intelligent runs and a burning desire to press, becoming only the second Portuguese player to score a Premier League treble.

And who was the other? Some guy called Cristiano Ronaldo.

Jota’s display was so fantastic – pretty much perfect – that it made you wonder why it took him a while to adjust to the demands of the top flight.

But, when you think about it, it is because the new 3-5-2 formation suits him so well, and the previously-used 3-4-3 did not accentuate his strengths at the elite level.

Jota, after his 17-goal haul helped seal promotion from the Championship as title winners, continued to play on the left of a front three in the early stages of the campaign.

And he just did not look himself. The huge step up in physicality and quality meant the 22-year-old often faded out of games.

Then, on other occasions, he cut a frustrated figure, perhaps trying too hard to stop his slump.

Of course, Jota’s confidence would have taken a hit from that, but it seems the main reason for that struggle was the athletes he was coming up against.

Quite often, a side’s full-backs will be their quickest players – Manchester City’s Kyle Walker, Tottenham’s Kieran Trippier and Leicester’s Ricardo Pereira being prime examples.

And Jota, while no slouch, just did not have the sheer pace to get the better of those sorts of players on a regular basis.

But playing on the shoulder of the last defender, the world is his oyster.

You want him in the thick of the action, and his new role allows him to be at the heart of every attack.

Jota has the presence of mind, and a bit of a nasty streak about him, to really get under the skin of the centre-halves he faces.

Most importantly though, he is clinical in front of goal. All three of his goals against Leicester were very well-taken, without an ounce of hesitation.

The first saw him eagerly get ahead of Danny Simpson and guide home Joao Moutinho’s cross just four minutes into the clash.

The second saw him latch on to an unbelievable pass from Ruben Neves and slot under the onrushing Kasper Schmeichel.

And the third we all know about – a calm, first-time finish giving Wolves a famous victory in stoppage time and sending the Molineux crowd into delirium.

In Jota and the ever-so-unselfish Raul Jimenez, Nuno could very well have a great strikeforce on his hands that can score the goals required to secure a top-half finish this season.

He may decide to play Jota out wide again in the future, but now there are no doubts over whether he can excel in a central role.

This system suits him down to the ground. We all know, without a doubt, he well and truly belongs in the Premier League.