As always there is a lot of speculation around Celtic and who they will sign in the upcoming January transfer window. In the past, one of the criticisms regarding the club at times has been that they take too long to try and complete deals. John Hartson appears to be concerned though that there is one player that they cannot do that with.
To be fair, the signing of a new player always comes with its fair share of risks and you never know how it will all work out for the player, so making the right deal is very important.
In the case of Jota though the risk appears to be significantly less, especially after the start that he has made to the season and there is already an option to buy believed to be around £6.5 million included in his current deal.
There have been calls from fans to sign Jota as soon as possible and John Hartson appears to be of the same view. As reported by the Daily Record, the former Celtic star said:
"“You do it now, you do it now. 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 £10m if you get him to us.’“That could happen.”"
Celtic must try to sign Jota as soon as possible
Jota joined Celtic on loan in the summer from Benfica, after failing to establish himself in the first-team there. His previous loan spell, with Real Valladolid, had not been great either.
It is safe to say that he has looked like a completely different player for Celtic and it is hard to understand why things had not worked out for him at the senior level till now. Jota’s tricks, skill, goals, assists and energetic performances have brought fans off their seats regularly.
According to stats from Transfermarkt, he has scored 6 goals and provided 6 assists in 14 appearances across all competitions for Celtic till now.
It is safe to say that the Portuguese winger is already one of the most important players in Ange Postecoglou’s side and the club must do everything that they can to make his loan move permanent.