Respected European football writer Andy Brassell has been talking to the excellent Football Ramble podcast this week, and has been talking up Celtic as a destination the young stars of European football, perhaps frustrated by the lack of first team gametime at some of Europe’s big clubs.
Brassell used Celtic’s recent links to PSG youngster Edouard Michut as an example of young stars being aware of the exposure on offer from playing under Ange Postecoglou’s revitalised Celtic, and believes the ‘Jota route’ to Celtic would allow young talents a platform to enhance their footballing reputations rather than stand in line behind the swollen numbers of established top performers in Europe’s big leagues.
“You have got Edouard Michut, the midfield player who Pochettino wanted to give chances to, at the end of last season. He got that red card against Angers, so was unable to do that. But you’ve got him saying, ‘you know what, I think I will go and play for Celtic, maybe I will go and take the Jota route, because there I can play and inflate my reputation'”.
There is no doubting Jota arrived at Celtic as a relatively underused footballer, indeed even his loan destination of Valladolid in the season prior to joining Celtic showed parent club Benfica weren’t exactly picking out suitable destinations when it came to placing their young talents.
Valladolid were in dire straits as a club, were to end up battling unsuccessfully to stay in the top flight, and it was a destination where tricky and talented wingers were always going to be dispensed with in exchange for survival tactics.
By the end of the 2020–21 season, Real Valladolid were relegated following a 1–2 home defeat by Atlético, which also saw Atletico lift the La Liga title on the final matchday, ending Valladolid’s three-year stay in first division.
It was a crazy destination to send Jota, a place where his talents were never going to be able to be develope. Yet a 12-month spell at Celtic saw the player flourish, to the point Benfica were derided by their own fans for allowing one of their best young talents leave for as little as £6m.
The signing of Aaron Mooy probably means any move for PSG’s Edouard Michut is probably unlikely, and with Celtic’s transfer window perhaps all but concluded, it may be unlikely any further young talents from Europe’s top table may make their way to Celtic this summer.
But one thing seems certain, the work being done by Ange Postecoglou at Celtic isn’t going unnoticed by players, their representatives or indeed the clubs themselves. And that is a development Celtic may well be able to take advantage of in future transfer window – if indeed there isn’t still room for one more through the door in this one.
Niall J
