Clock ticking on Celtic’s option to buy clause in Jota’s loan deal with Benfica

Is it a signing saga now? I guess after six weeks and no agreement reached thus far, it would be fair to describe the ‘will he won’t he’ Jota to Celtic story just that way. In fact, Joe over at Video Celts described it as a ‘daily vigil’ – and as much as it that description made me smile it also made me wince. We’re not quite in Eddie Howe territory just yet, but it’s the closest thing we had since.

Today Portuguese publication Record intimated a deal was very close to being announced, that all parties have reached an agreement and Jota will ‘soon; be unveiled – but then we’ve been hearing that for weeks now with Jota’s loan agreement ending tomorrow.

‘Jota will sign for four seasons with Celtic, recorded. The agreement between the parties is closed and should be official soon.’

Meanwhile The Herald is taking a more cautious approach, and whilst they seem clear the Alexandro Bernabei deal is close to being announced, they also seemed to hint that Jota being on the flight to Austria for Celtic’s summer training camp was far from certain.

‘Every indication is that at the very least, Bernabei will. The Argentinian has agreed a contract and passed his medical this week, with Celtic and Lanus understood to have agreed to a 10 percent sell-on clause as part of the £3.75m deal.

Herald Sport also understands that Jota will indeed follow him in signing a long-term deal with Celtic, as the club have long been confident about, even if their pre-season base in Wiener Neustadt-Land doesn’t turn out to be the next immediate stop in his whistle-stop world tour.’

There were rumours doing the rounds a couple of weeks back that agent fees and Celtic’s unwillingness to agree to those high demands were the hold up, we then had more rumours last night that a minimum fee of £8m to be included in the contract was the sticking point, but as with anything the veracity of such claims were more doubtful than concerning, yet while all this drags out rumour and innuendo fills the void.

As the Celtic Star Editor pointed out yesterday, Jota’s loan deal expires at the end of the month and  with it the option to buy clause  so if Celtic haven’t concluded the permanent deal to run on immediately after the club are not going to look the sharpest tools in the box. Yet Celtic have always done business this way and have a reputation in the game for being somewhat slow when it comes to concluding deals, or even responding to requests for contact.

Having been stung in the past with the John McGinn approach of ‘ach he’s a Celtic man, it’s nae bother’ and the laissez-faire approach to the Ben Davies deal, that saw Celtic gazumped at the last minute after initiating contact with Preston at the beginning of that transfer window, it was hoped the new CEO – and the impressive January window which saw three Japanese signings announced on Hogmanay and a speedy conclusion to signing Matt O’Riley from MK Dons – would herald a welcome change.

Matt O’Riley arriving at Celtic Park ahead of his £1.5m move

Perhaps we were too keen to believe that was the case, after all bar Michael Nicholson not much has changed when it comes to decision makers with various other business interests to contend with behind the scenes.

Of course, they say patience is a virtue – and also that good things come to those who wait – but when you have the transfer window equivalent of PTSD when it comes to this Celtic board and getting contracts signed sealed and delivered, it’s not the waiting time that gets you, it’s the thought of who we have entrusted to conclude the deals that’s the concerning factor.

Niall J

About Author

As a Bellshill Bhoy I was taken to my first Celtic game in the summer of 1987. It was Billy McNeill’s return to Celtic Park as manager and Celtic lost 5-1 to Arsenal . I thought I was a jinx, I think my Grandfather might have thought the same. It was the finest gift anyone ever gave me when he walked me through Parkhead's gates.

2 Comments

  1. steven mcginlay on

    What a useless piece of journalism. Jota can’t sign till Friday because the Portuguese transfer window doesn’t open until then.