Wolves’ Diogo Jota is ready to prove his family wrong as he prepares to dump Manchester United out of the FA Cup.
Ahead of Saturday’s quarter-final visit of United the forward admits his uncle and many others doubted his move to Wolves.
He joined from Atletico Madrid, initially on loan, last season before making a permanent switch for around £12million last year and helped Nuno Espirito Santo’s side to the Sky Bet Championship title.
But having swapped Madrid for Molineux the 22-year-old revealed even his own family questioned him.
He said: “Many people in Portugal criticised me – and Ruben (Neves). They were saying ‘you are going from a Champions League club to a lower division in another country, are you crazy?’
“I said, ‘No, I believe in the project and then, if everything goes well, like I expect, next season you have the reason’.
“Fortunately everything went well, and we are here now, and everyone understands now. Me and Ruben have improved as players and now no one doubts our qualities.”
Asked where the scepticism came from, Jota added: “(The) public and newspapers, but I have family as well. Not criticising me, but asking, ‘Why are you doing that?’ I was explaining my thoughts at the time.
“Everything has gone well, so they are happy. My father always supported me, and the rest of my family, but my uncle tried to say ‘Why are you doing this?’ It is part of the game.”
Dad Joaquin and uncle Ricardo will be at Molineux on Saturday as Wolves aim to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1998.
Jota has scored six goals this season, all coming in his last 13 games, to help Wolves to seventh in the Premier League.
And he is ready to channel Manchester United favourite Cristiano Ronaldo to cause a shock, with the Juventus forward an inspiration.
He added: “Ronaldo is a reference not just for me but for all people because he’s a goal machine. We have to look at him to learn something. He’s Portuguese so he was already a reference.”
