Jota.

Why not? Rennes bought him for £6.64m. The fee isn't out of our reach. If we sell Bernabei and Palma, we may even make a profit. His wages shouldn't be an obstacle either. Al-Ittihad paid a premium to convince him to move to Saudi Arabia. That's not the case anymore. If Rennes can afford him, I don't see why we cannot.

Football-wise, it's a no-brainer. Jota-Kyogo-Kuhn would form an amazing front 3!

 

I don’t see it happening but it might be worth testing the water in the summer if his manager is still around and isn’t playing him. It would be a completely different signing to the first time as he wouldn’t be viewed as someone your going to sell on but someone that could be a stalwart in the team for a good few years.

Jota is a class act, he had that elite level mentality that you need some of your team to have and was capable of brilliance on his day.

I don’t see it happening as it feels like you Paddy Roberts type where he will be linked for a few seasons but it could be Jota and Celtic just fit. Kyogo would be delighted to see him back as he was good at picking him out.

 

Struggling Jota could reportedly be shown the door by Stade Rennes after just six months at the club.

The 25-year-old has looked to get his career back on track in Ligue 1 after he brought his nightmare spell in the Saudi Pro League to an end last summmer. The winger took the mega money offer on the table from Al-Ittihad to leave Celtic in the summer of 2023 for a whopping £25million - but the move didn't work out as he was almost instantly dropped from the squad list for league fixtures


And the wide man must have a feeling of deja vu in France after being abruptly dropped out of the first-team plans by new boss Jorge Sampaoli last month. After his £6.7million move to Rennes, he appeared to be capturing his best form under then-manager Julian Stephen despite a sluggish run of results for his side - but the Argentine boss has yet to hand the summer recruit a single start since taking over last month.


According to L'Équipe, the Rennes hierarchy is keen to provide reinforcements across all positions for Sampaoli and are looking to sell off a number of fringe stars to fund the deals. They note that Jota could "already be set to leave" if an opportunity arises to cash in with the attacker "desiring" more game time


The hammerblow to his career comes after Jota hailed his time in the Scottish Premiership earlier this season. He admitted he couldn't wait to one day show his children Parkhead, telling the media in France: "You had to be in Glasgow at that moment to feel it. Playing at Celtic Park, feeling the love of the fans, having the chance to be coached by an incredible coach (Ange Postecoglou) in a group where everything turned out well.

You have to thank everyone. I hope one day to be able to show my children what it was like, all the love I received. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. It touched me because I didn’t expect it. When they started singing it, it was a very special moment.”


Could he get his dream move sooner than he thought? It remains to be seen if the Hoops are among the unnamed "interested" clubs at this early stage

 

I'm in favour. He would definitely been an asset

 

He cannot sign for a British team until after the 5th April its a total non starter

 

He probably doesn't want to come back anyway

 

I was always a fan of Jota and i felt the love he had for us, he was a spiritual dude. But I mostly think we should be looking at new talent. His hunger for it would be up for question. The risk is big money on a player who has been out of favour. Its not a certainty that he could create what he did before and stand out.

 

Tax issues are a major stumbling block bcoz with us looking for another winger in January and him not getting game time it's almost the perfect scenario to bring him home.

But due to tax rules by time he can come back in summer we will already have another winger and he'll move on elsewhere again.

Position he's in is unfortunate and really likes him as a player but I struggle to have any real sympathy for him due to the fact he moved to a * league due to sheer greed

 

Maybe, or its quite possible that he would have stayed if the offer wasn't good for both parties. Sometimes you have to question, did McGeady really want to go to russia? Or even Jimmy Johnstone, they tried pushing him out for the cash but he said he'd play for Celtic for free.

 

There is some amount of * being spouted about tax rules stopping him, he can sign for any club in the UK, if that is what he wants to do.

As for folk criticising him for accepting a wage increase of what.. 10 times what we were paying him… aye I’m sure they would have said no

 

More than ten times. It was tax free.

 

Ah the old you'd take the money too argument.

Aye most would, but it's worth remembering he was already on £20k+ per week and could easily have doubled, trebles or quadrupled his wages by going to a bigger league in Europe.

Instead he went for the most money he could get but made a move that was very likely to damage his career.

He was on the fringes of Portugal squad when he was here, he's miles away from that now and his career has stalled massively.

So as I say difficult to feel any sympathy for him considering he knew the risks of that move before he made it but for him money was more important

 

Might not have went purely for the money though. I expect he thought he could make a difference out there like many other pro's he wanted to help lay the foundations for fans to take interest in football. That didn't happen and theres not much passion for it out there. This is also life changing money that would set his family up for generations, cant begrudge any player for moving on these days I think. Its not entirely their decision also.

 

Come on

 

Yea the money is a bonus, a very nice one.

But honestly this is all in hindsight, there's every reason to believe he could have felt positive about the move at the time regardless of pay off. Did he assume it would be such a risk to his football career though?
I get why you laugh because my post assumes that pro's go over there for good reasons but I think some, especially initially really want to promote football in far reached places.

 

£250k a week tax free is massive though. £20k a week here is a large tax, £80k say in England is also that.

He’d never have that money on the table at any stage of his career outwith that one. His stint there he’s probably earned the same amount as he would the rest of his career.

 

Him and Tierney and we're winning the Champions League.

 

Made his bed? More like made us £25 million. We've won a watch if he comes back for a fraction of that.

 

We got £25 million for him, he got a ridiculous wage for a year that he would have never got anywhere else, and it was a deal neither us nor Jota could really turn down (I mean, we could, we don't need the money, but I more-so mean in General)

No idea if he's able to come back during the January window and how the tax would affect him, but if he's still available in the summer we should be all over it.

 

Was it not £30m but 30% straight to Benfica?