Jota: I fell in love with Celtic and now I’m here to stay…
Celtic have just issued a press release confirming that Jota has signed a permanent contract with Celtic. It reads as follows…
✨✍️ #JotaAnnounced! #CelticFC is 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙙 to announce the permanent signing of Jota from Benfica.
Welcome home, Jota! 🇵🇹🍀
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 1, 2022
Jota came to Celtic last season and fell in love with the club, and now the Portuguese winger is delighted to continue his love affair with the Hoops after making his move to Glasgow a permanent one, joining from Benfica on a five-year deal.
The 23-year-old enjoyed a very impressive season-long loan spell with Celtic, scoring 13 goals in 40 appearances for the club and helping the Hoops win the Scottish Premiership title and the League Cup in what was Ange Postecoglou’s first season in charge of the club.
And the latest announcement by the club, following on from the signings of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Ben Siegrist and Alexandro Bernabei, is one that will delight the Celtic supporters, who have also fallen in love with the Portuguese star.
And while Jota’s been globetrotting he’s admitted that there’s no place like home and by that he means Paradise, with our superstar from Portugal admitting that he’s missed the dear old place.
“I really missed the Celtic fans and Celtic Park, the atmosphere,” he said of the close-season break, “and even the away games, I think they are terrific. It’s something that I was not expecting and it really pushed me.
“I just want to get back on the pitch as soon as possible and to do our thing because we want to do better this year, and we are going to do better this year.,” Jota added.
Playing in the Champions League this season is going to be a tremendous experience for the Celtic players, with only a few having previously experienced what Celtic Park is like on those European nights under the lights.
“Ange has a philosophy of the game which wants us to be better in every training session and every game, so he aims for us to be better and better every week, and that’s something a player likes because there’s no point staying on the same level always.
“You want to develop, you want to be better and you want to achieve others things, and in here at the club we’re ready for that and we’re getting ready for all the competitions ahead.
“Pre-season is always a very important time for us to prepare for what’s ahead because during the season we don’t have the time to be meticulous about all our tactics or whatever. So we need to work hard now because this will be the place until the end of the season, and that’s what we’re going to look for, to get the mind and the body ready for what’s coming.’
“Trophy Day was amazing. Once we got to the celebrations, everyone just entered in a pure state of freedom and that’s what happened. And I just want that thing to happen a lot of times, to give the joy and the happiness to our fans, and let’s work. We are here to work.”
Just ahead of the signing announcement Celtic posted this pretty obvious tease and what was about to be confirmed…
🏴➡️🇪🇸➡️🇺🇸➡️🇲🇽➡️🇵🇹➡️⁉️
Anyone else been keeping up-to-date with player holidays on Flight Radar? ✈️👀 pic.twitter.com/bSVsGuf1km
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 1, 2022
🗣️ "It’s a tremendous step in my career. I’m really happy to have joined Celtic and I just want to give some joy to the fans.
It was a great experience last season. I fell in love." 💚
Jota's first interview as a 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁 #CelticFC player! #JotaAnnounced 🇵🇹🍀 pic.twitter.com/K2wnMPll2S
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 1, 2022
