Ange Postecoglou comments on Jota’s Celtic future

With Kyogo Furuhashi back in the Celtic starting XI, Jota seemed to be back to his best as well, against Ross County. He set up the Japanese superstar for the opener with a beautiful assist before finding the back of the net himself late on, in what was a Man of the Match performance from the Portuguese winger. And once again, it has raised questions about his long-term future at the club.

As things stand, Jota is only on season-long loan at Celtic from Benfica. The club do have an option to buy included in the deal though, believed to be in the region of £6 million to £6.5 million.

While that is a big transfer fee for Celtic, and Jota has shown signs of inconsistency recently as well, on top of his game, he has proven himself to be a top class player. And as a result, it might be worth the risk making a move of that magnitude for him.

Jota recently opened up about how he is only focusing on the title race though and not thinking about the future. And Postecoglou appeared to back that up as well. As reported by the Daily Record, the Celtic manager said:

"“If anyone thinks we’re thinking of anything other than what happened today, for all of us the most important thing is that we work hard to get a successful year out of this [Jota loan deal].“Whatever happens beyond that, these conversations, there are two parties and if two parties want the same thing, then it will happen.”"

Postecoglou comments on Jota’s Celtic future

There are two ways to look at it. On one hand, everybody seems relaxed about the situation and the focus is on getting over the line in the Premiership title race.

On the other hand, there has not been any positive noise coming out about him signing on a permanent basis either. That would worry a lot of Celtic fans.

All we can do at this point of time is wait and see how things unfold over the coming weeks and months. If Celtic are able to sign Jota on a permanent deal, it would be a major boost for them. But then, one cannot rule out the lure of playing for his boyhood club.

If the Portuguese winger returns to Benfica, hopefully Celtic will be able to find a suitable replacement for him in the summer.