Jota has returned to Celtic in an £8m deal – just 18 months after leaving the Scottish champions for £25m.
The Portuguese winger arrives from Rennes and has signed a five-and-a-half-year deal at Parkhead, subject to international clearance, which will see him remain at the club until June 2030.
In 2023, Jota swapped Celtic for a big-money move to Saudi side Al Ittihad but was left out of the club’s Pro League squad and found himself on the fringes of the starting XI for Asian Champions League matches.
Jota is returning to Celtic while Kyogo is moving the opposite direction
He then moved to Rennes last summer, but the appointment of new manager Jorge Sampaoli left the player seeking another move – and he has his wish after returning to Celtic.
Jota initially moved to Parkhead on loan from Benfica in 2021, before being signed permanently on a five-year deal the following season.
The former Benfica player scored 28 goals and provided 26 assists in 83 appearances, plus won five major honours with the Parkhead club.
‘It just feels right’
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Winger Jota has been speaking for the first time since rejoining Celtic on a five-and-a-half-year deal just 18 months after leaving the club.
Jota speaking to the media for the first time since returning to the club:
“Once I really had the time to think on it and understand that this was the best step for my career at this moment, I felt like, ‘okay, let’s go for it once again’ and it just feels right.
“It’s obviously been a year and a half with some difficulties, mostly inside the pitch where I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to play and obviously physically it’s not my best moment, but that will come quickly with minutes, game time, trainings and I just can’t wait for it.
“I’m just getting to know some of the lads, I think only nine players remain since the last time but definitely there’s a lot of talent, there’s room for improvement and under the orders of Brendan, I think there’s a good environment to develop and to win stuff.
“I’ve learned a lot of stuff, I’ve known myself in different ways that I didn’t know and I think that’s all positives in the end of the day because I’m much more mature. I have a different vision from what I want and what I want to achieve.
“I’m very aware of myself, so in the end that’s what I take from it.”
Rodgers: Jota can grow Celtic legacy
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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is looking forward to working with Jota for the first time
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is looking forward to finally working with the winger:
“An absolutely incredible addition to our squad, given what he’s done here before and his qualities.
“He was one player that when I was coming back the first time, I was really, really looking forward to working with. I’d seen him play for Celtic, of course, and seen the impact that he made in terms of creating goals, scoring goals.
“Virtually before I arrived, it was very clear that he was gone. That was disappointing.
“I’ve spoken to him at length. The challenge always is, and I know through first-hand experience, is that when you’ve created a legacy, lots of people will tell you to come back and maybe for that to be dented in any way.
“My feeling and advice to him was, come back and grow that legacy to be even greater.
“If you’re not happy in your work where you are or how it’s going for you, you know that this is a place where you will improve, you will develop.
“He’s at a different moment in his life now as well, even though he’s been away only a few years. I think that he’ll come back with a real motivation. He’s got an undoubted quality.”
