Jota departure has been bad for all parties…
:Jota of Al-Ittihad Club gestures during the Saudi Pro League match between Al Ittihad and Al Hilal on September 01, 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
Jota, our superstar from Portugal, who served us well in his two years at the club, has proved to be a big miss indeed. Five trophies in two years, vital goals, loads of assists for the likes of Kyogo and brilliant individual performances, he done it all in a Celtic shirt and was very popular amongst the supporters. Actually he still is.
He left in a record £25 million transfer last summer as he joined Saudi side Al- Ittihad. We were of course hugely disappointed to see him leave, but the reality was that the transfer fee was too big for the club to turn down, as was the massive, life-changing financial package on offer to Jota on a personal level.
Joao Neves Filipe Jota of Celtic celebrates scoring the second goal during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and Rangers FC at on September 03, 2022 Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Jota quite understandably joined a list of high profile players in heading to the cash rich Gulf State. It hasn’t however worked out, not just for Jota but Celtic also and also for Al- Ittihad.
Celtic despite receiving a huge fee, predictably enough, failed to reinvest a chunk of it on a quality replacement. Instead we signed South Korean Yang for £2 million, and although he has great potential, he’s just another project who has struggled to make any real impact so far.
Nicolas Kuhn was then signed for £3 million and he too also looks like he’s been found wanting. It’s been a disaster letting a player like Jota leave and not even replacing him with someone of any real quality. As for Jota himself, he is having a torrid time in Saudi Arabia. He’s struggled to make an impact at his new side and has been restricted to just a handful of appearances this season after failing to be included in the league squad.
Jota of Celtic celebrates after scoring only goal of the game during the Scottish Cup Semi Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Hampden Park on April 30, 2023 in . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Several loan moves have fallen through so he’s currently stuck in limbo out in the Middle East. No one will have the violin out for him as he’s still receiving that gigantic salary, and like all players who jumped ship to the Gulf state, he knew what he was letting himself in for.
But it’s only natural that he might be wondering what if in regards of staying at Celtic, the same can be said for us. You can only imagine if he’d have stuck around we wouldn’t be in the position we are currently in.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
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