If anyone has any reservations when it comes to Jota, you can be guaranteed none of them involve the undoubted talents of the player.
The fact most supporters’ backsides left their wee plastic seats as soon as a pass looked intended for the Portuguese winger tells you all you need to know about the sense of anticipation any of us feels when Jota graces the team. Conversely the sense of dread and near impending doom we all felt when that hamstring went against Hearts, as bums slumped heavily into those self-same seats, shook the very confidence of us all.
It’s rare after all that a player has the immediate impact as Jota has on the team or on the hopes of the Celtic support, yet Celtic have had two of those this season, Kyogo Furuhashi and Jota. The difference is we know one wants to play for Celtic, the other being a loan deal we’re just not so certain, and it is that which makes us all somewhat edgy and understandably so.
With reports Jota has returned to parent club Benfica for treatment on his hamstring injury those insecurities we have over a permanent deal ramped up.
Where previously the worry, as to whether Celtic would or would not pay the £6m fee to make a loan deal a permanent arrangement, caused us all angst. To then hear the bean counters seemed willing to do so and even move negotiations to January rather than June, brought some positivity to us all.
In truth the projected profit on the player was clearly as joyful to some as the talent evidenced on the field of play to the rest of us, and as such the world of the football supporter and the custodians of the club met perfectly in a moment where two, often separate, worlds rarely collide.
But life is rarely that simple. We now apparently have the concern that whilst back home convalescing, Jota may be influenced to return to his parent club and try again, rather than return to Glasgow and bookmark ‘Right Move’ and ‘detached houses Glasgow’ on his laptop.
But in reality, nothing has changed. Injured or not Jota was going back to Benfica during the winter shutdown. Like it or not he’d have been talking to his teammates, his coaches, his family and friends and conversations would be had.
Injured or not the Benfica manager would still have been punted for his results were not good enough, and injured or not his former B team manager, who knows him well, would have filled in. After Jota’s performances, the option to buy would have weighed heavy on those at Benfica, perhaps realising, under the pressure from their support that they had undervalued his worth, and not just by the fee inserted into the deal but also possibly in the gametime he had been offered prior to his lending to Celtic.
As such Jota or his representatives would likely be reminded that it remains just that, an option, and any deal being completed or otherwise lies with the player himself. Whether he was injured or not those conversations were always going to take place, because what Jota decides is all that matters.
At this moment Celtic have done all we can do. We’ve made the player know he’s wanted, a willingness to pay the fee early shows that, as does the adoration he’s received from the stands. Jota himself seemed to enjoy his football, something Benfica had denied him at his own club and when showing little support for a career pathway with the previous loan to basket case Spanish outfit Valladolid, before subsequently pushing him out the door with an option to buy attached this time around.
And the loss of the manager doesn’t impact on that behaviour. That decision at Benfica is taken away from the manager and taken by the same more senior officials who will now be attempting to convince the player and his representatives that they made a mistake undervaluing his abilities, rather than really seeing more profit from a future deal, should the player decide to stay in Lisbon and gamble on game time being offered next season.
And if Jota’s head is turned again, if he has doubts, he’s a bright kid, a decision won’t be made now.
Even if the pendulum swings in favour of Benfica, Jota will still return to Celtic and play, week in week out. He will shoulder an important part of a title challenge and he will be one of the first names on the team sheet both domestically and in European football.
He will get at Celtic as a loan player what he will get if he chooses to sign permanently, a belief in his abilities and a platform to perform for an emerging attacking team under a manger he already knows can deliver, and one in the midst of building the platform from which a talented player like Jota can thrive. Can Jota be guaranteed that at Benfica? Have they made promises in the past, and have they delivered?
The ball may be in Benfica’s court now, and injured or not that was always going to happen when Jota returned home, but soon the balance will shift again. It may now be that no decision is made until the summer and we shouldn’t hold that against Jota or his representatives, after all that was the agreement when we first signed him on loan.
That final decision will come down to Jota. It was always going to come down to Jota, such is the way the deal is weighted.
The player will simply have to decide if any promises made now by Benfica are really any different from what he’s had before and whether he believes them. Or whether Celtic, the Postecoglou revolution and the near guarantee of first team football, fighting for trophies, playing European football and being that player who hears the clatter of plastic seats, followed by the sound of anticipation, every time he touches the ball is enough to commit his future to Glasgow.
That decision, as it always has, lies with Jota. In the meantime, we know we at least have another six months to enjoy him and convince him.
Niall J
