I wrote in May that Jota (23) was more important to retain than Cameron Carter-Vickers on a permanent contract. At that point, the profile of both players was high after a successful term in Glasgow, we would not have been the only potential destination. It is a huge credit to chief exec Michael Nicolson and the club that they have delivered both.
Cameron was our best defender, a potential Celtic captain, but still, I wanted Jota more. Opponents fear him. He can take a ball when marked tightly and the defender will not lunge in to attempt a steal, knowing Jota has the ability to move ball and body before they have formulated a thought.
If an opposition team leave him one-on-one, they better not lose possession. He is Celtic’s most effective out-ball; left with only one defender to beat, he can turn defence into an opportunity to score faster than Usain Bolt could track back.
When Aiden McGeady signed for Hibs this week, my thoughts went back to so many great memories. Prominent among them, was watching him as an 18-year-old, bring his instant control to a 2004 Celtic-Milan Champions League game. No one else in the Celtic team had that ball control.
Jota has the same effortless control.
So what about the Magic Window, where Celtic have seen enough of the player to make their move, before wealthier clubs get involved?
Incredibly, Jota had only played an entire 90 minutes of a game only twice before joining Celtic, both cup games for Benfica against lower league opposition. The season before arriving in Glasgow was mostly spent on the bench, watching his Real Valladolid side fail to ward off relegation. He made 8 starts there and was hooked each time, adding 10 appearances from the bench.
Across his career, before joining Celtic on loan last year, he made 9 starts and 29 sub appearances in senior football. Magic window? More a magic letterbox. He had hardly put studs on grass.
Valladolid was clearly a wrong move. As we have discussed previously about Patrick Roberts, he is a creative talent and needs to be with a team that spends lots of time attacking, sides fighting relegation would be unable to get the ball to him enough to see the benefit of giving him a shirt. It was the classic square peg/round hole problem – one we should be on the lookout for again.
To know the value of the player, Celtic would have to uncover knowledge only visible at Portuguese and Spanish reserve level games. The resources required to cover this much ground is unfathomable through traditional means. You are looking at the result of very effective analytics.
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Beyonce
Hello
Well done Celtic…..
Really hard to hate the board at the moment. Delivering for Ange.
I want more – CDM, CH and Attacker….
HH
Surprised and delighted with this news. Like many, I reckoned it would be either or with CCV and Jota.
Well played, Celtic. Quite excellent.
In other news, I hope the playground stuff is consigned to previous threads and posters post whilst moderators continue to quietly and efficiently moderate.
Emdy know what height Jota is?
https://youtu.be/GYcFUGMVzv4
Jota’s English, is better than most on here…🧨
Had no idea Jota had played so little football before joining us. Along with his injury It could go some way to explaining the mid-season dip in form. If this happens next season to him or others we now have more strength in depth to cope
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 1ST JULY 2022 12:11 PM
Emdy know what height Jota is?
—
I know his hair is 3 feet 2 inches tall. The rest of him is the height of pure footballing genius…
HH
!!BADA BING!! on 1ST JULY 2022 12:15 PM
https://youtu.be/GYcFUGMVzv4
Jota’s English, is better than most on here…🧨
—
Made me laugh yesterday that James Forrest’s interview on the Celtic channel came with subtitles……
HH
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Great Window from Mike/Ange.
Over the moon,
KLV
P67 — are you telling the full story here?
He seems to have had a lot more games than you suggest.
Desperation last summer meant that we signed a deal that was loaded against us.
We made him look worth £6.5mill.
We gave him the time on the park that made that valuation credible.
You are not worth £6.5mill sitting on a bench during a Spanish First Division relegation battle.
Those pesky water thieves :-)))
https://twitter.com/SpicyAntony/status/1542810489067012098?t=yxmiYJKUZuu07jt3B4f-tA&s=19
HH
Jota is 1.75Metres
JPNF = 23 and counting.
He is no LA style wonderkid.
2019/20 = Breakthrough season at Benfica that fizzled out.
2020/21 = Loan season that did not spark.
I do not think that he has had a typical career.
Seems highly rated — NT age groups — but slow burner in the big league.
I think that we agreed to a £6.5mill valuation just to get him on loan as we were very short of bodies.
Consequently it looks like the punt has paid off — he is worth more than £6.5mill now but he was not worth anywhere near £6.5mill 12 months ago.
Serendipity?
Luck?
Jota says wake me up before you Kyogo
Sanctioned from the inside …
Whether 1972 or 2022 — that is some accusation to make.
Not sure if the 1972 version is aimed at the board or JS but that is an incredible accusation to make.
Great signing. We’re investing from a position of strength and hopefully building a team to win multiple league titles.
So work yet to do transfer wise although the big components are now in place for preseason. I suspect we’ll sign another CB if Jullien goes and possibly another creative mid to compensate for the loss of Rogic.
I don’t see us needing another holding mid, between CalMac, Guchi and McCarthy, I think we’re covered for that position considering we’re on the front foot in almost all our domestic games.
From his first gamr, I knew we had a player in Jota.
He will be a superstar
Excellent stuff Celtic
I would imagine, given that we were dealing with 2 parties who are very well practiced at getting every last bit of value out of their assets (Benfica and his agent) this wasn’t an easy deal to make, especially at the prices we can pay.
A steal at the price
BIG WAVY on 1ST JULY 2022 12:17 PM
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 1ST JULY 2022 12:11 PM
“Emdy know what height Jota is?”
“I know his hair is 3 feet 2 inches tall. The rest of him is the height of pure footballing genius…
HH”
:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) por cierto
Great to get both Jota and CCV in. Also brilliant to hear Ange talking about improvement earlier in the week. That’s what it should always be about.
Nobody should be in any doubt that this guy is a serious operator.
Absolutely no chance that he will win a few domestic trophies, pat himself on the back, tell everybody how brilliant and successful he is, lean back and say ‘job done ‘ and start coasting. He sounds like he wants to achieve big things here and there’s no reason it can’t happen if he is properly backed.
There must be every chance that Celtic will field a starting line up at some point next season with 11 different nationalities now that the Argentinian bhoy has signed and Matt O’Riley is officially Danish (in footballing terms).
That’s quite incredible to get your head around.
AN TEARMANN, 12.17.
😂😂
An Dun,
We’ll get another CDM. Souza I hope but someone of that ilk. I then envisage Callum being a Rogic type replacement, unshackled from the variety of roles he ahd to take before and further forward. McCarthy may be a specialist in terms of closing out games and adding some steel at the right time.
HH
12.23 ffs 🙄
If we get Souza then we would be getting one of the best, potentially, holding midfielders in Europe. Exactly what’s needed for CL and more importantly Callum would be totally free to play further forward. I do hope we can get him in, but “I ha’e ma doobts” por cierto.
Talent pipeline — air in the system
PMcGh giving it big licks for AMcG.
Linking his style of play with LM — which is worth some discussion.
The only issue is the gap between LM leaving and AMcG becoming a consistent performer worthy of the CL.
MO’N should have made more effort to close it — was his efforts to buy McF @ £1.25mill in 2003 his attempt to fill it?
If yes then shame on BQ for doing the Irish Raj’s bidding.
The club is delighted to announce that Season Tickets for the 2022/23 campaign have now completely sold-out. Celtic fans’ incredible support once again ensures that Paradise will be full to capacity once again when the Champions return to Celtic Park for the new season which gets underway in just over four weeks’ time.
“We would like to thank every supporter who has bought a Season Ticket or Seasonal Hospitality package to get behind Ange and the Bhoys in the 2022/23 campaign.”
Sold Out signs: Does that mean that visiting fans will be allocated only 800 tickets? Anyone who has purchased an ST for the section beside the away fans section knows if this is true? por cierto.
BSR @ 1.06
This is where the club are getting it wrong.
We have not sold out the ground we have only sold out the season ticket allocation.
There would appear to be 4000 individual sales still to go.
The big step forward last season was our ability to sell all of these tickets in the second half of the season — providing a nice little boost to our finances.
Have we signed anyone yet
Well done to all who’ve invested in season tickets. What a magnificent support….
Celtic Football Club
@CelticFC
·
53m
🏟 The club is delighted to announce that Season Tickets for the 2022/23 campaign have now completely 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝-𝐨𝐮𝐭.
👏 #CelticFC fans incredible support once again ensures that Paradise will be full to capacity once again when the 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 return to Celtic Park.🍀
HH
Bug Wavy
“Made me laugh yesterday that James Forrest’s interview on the Celtic channel came with subtitles……”
——————————
Aye and they had to pixellate the bottom half of the screen too.
Madmitch
Your the only reptile here
Hiding behind your anonymity
Doling out abuse daily
Madmitch is the blog Torbett
Can you pair give it a rest
Great news that our ST’s have sold out again. I know that a lot of people are disappointed as they have been on the waiting list for years.
Times are hard and money is tight in many cases . What a demonstration of support. I feel Ange has his fingers on the pulse and will never take the support for granted.
Our whole philosophy on and off the park seems sooooo much better.
We even got the best song accolade
We just can’t get enough.
Haven’t we always sold out our SB’s. The only difference has been the number of people with one who are willing or able to turn up on the match day to buy stadium products.