John Hartson has come out and urged former club, Celtic to sign up rising star in the Hoops, Jota. The Portuguese winger has been sensational since he arrived on-loan at the end of the summer transfer window, and the player scored again on Sunday against Dundee at Dens Park.
Jota has really came into his own of late, with performances both domestically and in Europe – having scored against Ferencvaros with a cracking goal last Thursday in Hungary. Hartson has pleaded with Celtic to make this deal happen before a European giant takes notice of the trickster and his unique abilities on the ball. Speaking to Scottish Sun, he said: “You do it now. That’s the next one. In January, you do it.
“He’s made a great impact and although Celtic have first refusal it doesn’t mean you get him over the line.”
“They have an option to get him, but his agent and Jota will have the decision whether it will be Celtic or not. You don’t want Jota to be on 20 goals by February and then a Bayern Munich come in and say to his agent, ‘We’ll give you £10million if you get him to us’. That could happen. That’s why I’m saying, get him done.”
7th November 2021; Dens Park, Dundee, Scotland: Scottish Premiership football, Dundee FC versus Celtic;
Hartson even suggested that Bayern Munich or PSG may even take a closer look if Jota’s upward trajectory continues. He said: “A Bayern Munich or a PSG might come in and say, ‘We want this kid, he’s 22, he has lit the place up at Celtic, he looks dynamite’. You know agents are running the game right now — they run football. They speak to clubs, they speak to chairmen. All managers have agents, this is how they do the deals. I would recommend Celtic do it as swiftly as they can because he is a very special player.”
The former league winner also reserved praise for Jota’s partner in crime, Kyogo Furuhashi. He added: “He’s got a bit of everything, I think he is a very special player. In terms of coming from Japan, he has 12 goals already and some of those goals show you that he is a world-class operator. His movement, his touch, his finishing. He is world class. For me he has been a brilliant signing, a brilliant find and I think Ange has got his eye on that Japanese market.
7th November 2021; Dens Park, Dundee, Scotland: Scottish Premiership football, Dundee FC versus Celtic; Joao Pedro Neves Filipe Jota of Celtic celebrates after he makes it 3-1 in the 47th minute
“I think the club have to back him. His relationship with Jota is unique. It is very similar to something like Henrik Larsson and Stan Petrov’s or Chris Sutton and Henrik.“He has just got that feeling about him, Kyogo, and Celtic have got that feeling about them with Jota, Liel Abada and him. Last week in Budapest they were able to change the front three — bringing in Mikey Johnston and James Forrest, who will be like a new signing for us.”
He also conceded that James Forret is like a new signing following his recent lay-off from injury. He said: “James has almost become the forgotten man. You talk about Scotland, he’s been outstanding for them with the hat-trick over Israel a couple of seasons ago. Because he has been out of the team, you are not exactly forgotten, but it’s almost like he has got to come back and has to do it all again because he has been out for so long. And we were also able to bring on Giorgos Giakoumakis, who is still trying to get into his stride at Celtic, for me. But I’m not going to comment too much because it is still too early to judge him.”
Jota of Celtic celebrates with teammate Kyogo Furuhashi. (Photo by Laszlo Szirtesi/Getty Images)
John was speaking at ‘The John Hartson Foundation’, which has raised over £1 million in the last ten years. I think most fans would agree with John that the Celtic hierarchy must not allow this golden opportunity to slip, considering the potential return on Jota in the future if he was to sign permanently with the Hoops.
Paul Gillespie
Write the check to Benfica and sign this bhoy, right now, Celtic. https://t.co/WDq4Lszlp9
— Larry Cafiero 古橋亨吾 🍀🏴☠️🌹 (@lcafiero) November 12, 2021
