Liverpool stars urged to 'speak up' about their grief over Diogo Jota's death

Former Arsenal and Manchester City defender Bacary Sagna believes that Jota's Liverpool team-mates may struggle to focus on the upcoming season following the death of the 28-year-old in a car crash. Now, the ex-France international thinks the squad needs to open up on this as it will be very "difficult" to process.

He told CNN: "They will constantly think about it. Because in the dressing room, one space will be free. At lunchtime, one space will be free. In the bus, one space will be free, so I clearly advise them to speak up. We are human beings first. We spend more time with the players than we spend with the whole family, so it’s just crazy. It’s hard to explain why and how it happened, but unfortunately, you have to move on, and you have to try to cope with it, but it’s going to be difficult."

Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, both died in the crash on July 3. Many of the current Liverpool squad travelled to Portugal to attend the former Wolves star's funeral earlier this month, before returning to pre-season training. Sagna himself has dealt with similar grief as his brother died in 2008 and, therefore, may understand what some of the Liverpool players are going through.

He added: "My brain was not there. It’s my second season. I start doing mistakes, like schoolboy mistakes. To control the ball was difficult. My brain was in slow motion. So some of the (Liverpool) players might come and be in the same mindset. They might not have their head into football because they will constantly think about it."

Sagna also said that some members of Liverpool's squad should consider getting counselling.

"We talked about life, we talked about many things, and most importantly, I felt a relief. I felt light after this, and I was like, ‘Why didn’t I go and open up earlier?’ I didn’t have the courage. I didn’t measure the importance of speaking up. I was thinking he cannot understand me, but they meet so many people, they hear so many stories. There is data, we were talking about the data. The words will be a release, so it’s really important," said the Frenchman.