He’s back and he’s probably wondering what all the fuss is about. Football Scotlandis reporting Jota has arrived back in Scotland after a six-week holiday where the winger appeared to hit every party spot the world had to offer.
If those reports are accurate, we can surely now expect the protracted transfer of Jota from Benfica to become a reality in short order, with a fee of £6.5m attached to a four-year contract for the player.
This would of course make for an incredible day of business for Celtic, with the club already announcing the transfer from Argentinian side Lanus of Argentine left back Alexandro Bernabei, after being beaten to the punch when it came to delivering the news by Bernabei’s former club 3am tweet, something Celtic Admin seem to have handled with humour –
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) June 30, 2022
Bernabei is of course an exciting development in itself, and a further indication the Celtic board are backing Stage 2 of the Ange Postecoglou Celtic rebuild, following on from deals for Daizen Maeda, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Benjamin Seigrist.
But with the signing of Jota, we know exactly what we are getting, after a season on loan where the Portuguese winger was a stand-out performer with ten goals and ten assists, alongside being the sort of talent that gets bums off seats on cold winter days.
This deal feels like it has been dragging on for an age, and with every passing day the concern nagged further that this one may not get over the line. Now with Jota apparently back in Glasgow it looks like Celtic are close to ensuring the superstar from Portugal will be ours after all.
Niall J
