At first, Vasco Seabra wasn't quite sure what he had on his hands.
As he assessed an assuming slip of a boy, the new arrival at Pacos de Ferriera was unimposing and unremarkable when he arrived for training.
A teenager by the name of Diogo Jota didn't even know where his best position was when he embarked on his journey as a footballer.
But despite all that, Seabra knew he had...something.
"[Diogo] was trying to understand the trust he had in himself," recalls the coach, who now manages Moreirense in Portugal's Primeira Liga.
"He arrived at our squad for the Under-18s, he was maybe 16 or 17 and he played either as a central midfielder or a classic No.10.
"In the first half of the season, he played 22 matches but they were not competitive games, just for fun for our young teams."
Seabra noted a young player with good balance who had a willingness to work and was comfortable in possession, but there was something stopping him pushing on further.
A conversation between the pair would be the catalyst that would help unlock the potential of the now Liverpool star.
"Halfway through the season, we spoke and I told him I would like to try him more as a mobile forward, playing closer to the goal," Seabra tells the ECHO from his home in Portugal.
"I thought he was very good at attacking the spaces and he was always looking to get closer to the goal.
"He is really competitive, you know, and he didn't think it was a great idea to begin with.
"In the beginning he was like: 'Oh, coach, I don't know. Every time I play it is as a central midfielder or as a No.10'.
"But he was always trying to do what the coaches say and improve himself. In the beginning, he didn't think it was a great idea but he did it.
The move would be transformative.
The teenager went from being a reliable, steady midfielder to a versatile goal-poacher capable of deciding games, almost overnight.
"In the first match as a forward, he scored two goals and we won 2-0. In the final 14 matches of the season, he scored 17 goals."
From then on, Seabra, who was in charge of Pacos de Ferreira's Under-19 side at the time, knew Jota was destined for a higher level.
He says: "At the end of his first season, we talked to the staff and we told them that it would be good for the club to give him a contract of four or five years.
"At the level that Pacos was, everyone believed he was ready and prepared [for higher].
"When he entered the games at U19s and played in the first team, he grew so fast that everybody knew this guy needed to be pushed to stay always with better players.
"And it was like an incredible desire for him to get better and make that next step and then the next step.
"It was the first time in the club that everybody was in agreement that said: 'OK, this guy can do a lot. He has a lot of potential.'"
As Jota continued to rise through the ranks, interest soon followed, in particular from the other side of the Iberian Peninsula, where Atletico Madrid were taking note.
His ongoing development would see him become a Portuguese Under-21 international as he signed off from his final season at Pacos with 14 goals and 10 assists in all competitions of his homeland.
At the age of just 19, he made the move to the Spanish capital, signing for Diego Simeone's Los Rojiblancos for around £1.5million.
The move, though, would not signal the start of a successful career in La Liga and he would be sent back to Portugal on loan without making a senior appearance less than two months after joining.
"I think it was because of the size of the step and because he was young," says Seabra.
"He was 19 when he moved to Atletico and I think he didn't have the little steps in between.
"Pacos to Atletico is [too big]. He needed a level between these two places. I think in Atletico, in the beginning, they saw the great things he had, but there is no time to try it.
"I think, if he had time, he would have conquered it because of his spirit that we talked about."
His homecoming would at least see him join the biggest club in Portugal as he signed on loan for Porto towards the end of August 2016.
It was the beginning of a wonderful relationship with the manager who would make him a Premier League star in Nuno Espirito Santo.
Nine goals in 35 appearances was a solid return for a young player, but once again, his stay would be short lived as Nuno brought him to Wolves after just one campaign.
In July of 2017, Jota became Wolves' 12th signing of a remarkable summer that would see the Midlanders bring in 25 players.
Jota was one of six Portuguese brought to Molineux by the new manager, which was a key factor in enabling him to settle in the second tier of English football before his 21st birthday.
"Porto believed in him and took him on loan and that did a great job because Nuno believed in him," says Seabra, who has continued to watch closely as his former player has blossomed.
"He went to Porto with Nuno after that and I think it was a really big step. This is Porto, a really big step. But he pushed himself and he played a lot of games.
"I think the Championship with Wolves and then the Premier League was really important for him, because he is a competitive guy and he likes to try and always to do better.
"It was the perfect balance for him and the club, Wolves.
"I think [the Portuguese influx at Wolves] helped. He had a fantastic coach that knew him and what could be better?
"A good coach who knows him, wants him, that is fantastic. The perfect idea, I know."
Midway through his only season in the Championship, Wolves had made their decision, exercising their right to make the forward their player on a permanent deal for around £12m later that year.
"I think the club, the personality of the club, with a lot of Portuguese guys, the atmosphere there, it was really good," Seabra adds.
"They played all the games to win in the Championship and it was a fantastic job for the guys.
"Not that other clubs play to lose, but they knew they had to make the club move to the Premier League.
"So knowing the coach and knowing he knew Jota, I think it was perfect for Jota.
"The Championship is a fantastic league to learn. It is difficult and the preparation is for the Premier League [if you are] a success there."
Jota was instrumental in Wolves winning the Championship before he played a major role part in helping Nuno's men to an FA Cup semi-final and Europa League quarter-final during his stay at Molineux.
Forty-four goals in 131 games was enough to alert Liverpool to his talents as the Reds swooped to seal a deal that could rise to £45million in mid-September last year.
For all his ability and versatility, however, Seabra notes the mental conditioning as the driving force behind Jota's rise to brink of superstardom at Anfield.
"He is always looking to win," he says. "He wants to be the best at everything he does on or off the pitch.
"He is a very humble person who listens to the coaches and understands how he can improve his game.
"He has always been a humble person and very dedicated to training. He is ambitious and has a lot of self-confidence. He is someone who tries to outdo himself every time.
"He pushes himself to be better, to do better and if he loses, even in training, he is completely crazy because he always tries to win everything he does. He is very dedicated.
"We can say to him 'Jota you are not doing this good' and he accepts it. So he is like 'what can I do better? I will try to do it.'
"In the beginning, I am not lying to you, it was difficult to see if he could be a big player in Liverpool, you know.
"It is difficult because Liverpool is the top of the world and now he gets to Liverpool and he has done it.
"He has done some great things there already and that is because he has so much trust in himself.
"He has no doubts about himself and he has shown he can listen to the coach, be humble and know that he has other good players in his position, but he has never quit.
"It's like he says 'OK, I have an incredible player in my place, so I have to do better. I have to do better than I was to be fighting for the opponent or the guy that is in my place.'
"So I think the coaches like him. He doesn't want to be the guy that plays 40 games and doesn't help the team. No, he wants to contribute, always.
"He is always doing the job that nobody wants to do. He'll do it. If it is the best for the team, he will do it.
"He runs a lot for the team and of course, if he can finish, he will because he has a lot of talent to finish chances and score goals."
The characteristics Seabra notes of his former player are not unlike those associated with the ones that have helped keep their compatriot, a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, at the forefront of the game at the age of 36.
And with Jota's star on the rise for the Seleccao, with three goals across the international break, Seabra sees how the enduring mentality of Ronaldo can help the Liverpool man going forward.
"Now I think Jota has really started to do a great job and nobody has any doubts about him in Portugal," he says. "So now, I think everybody trusts him.
"He has the courage to make his own game with our national team and I think everybody trusts him and sees him as a really great player. He has all the good feelings from the general population.
"I think the personality to push himself, Cristiano is an example for all the coaches and the players. When you see Cristiano, that is an example for us.
"OK, he never stops. He is the best, he is No.1 and he never stops. He is always trying to do better, always.
"I think for Jota, he always loved Cristiano when he was our player, he already loved Cristiano of course.
"I never talked to him about this, but I really believe for Jota, he thinks: 'OK, if this guy is like this, then I have to do the same to be better.'
"So I think Cristiano has been really important to him and I think they can play together for the national team. It's amazing.
"It's a fantastic thing for his personality because I think, I don't know Cristiano as a person, but I think they have the same traits to be better.
"To always be better."
