Jota, the many lessons to learn

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18 months, 19 substitute appearances and 20 starts after leaving Celtic, Jota is back!  He first joined Celtic as a 22-year-old in 2021, part of a revolutionary intake that summer, which saw Ange Postecoglou, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Kyogo, who passed Jota in the revolving door yesterday and became an instant success.

A five-and-a-half year contract for a player who turns 26 in March means the player should spend his best years at Celtic.

The €10m fee paid is approximately £17m less than the club received for him when he departed for Al Ittihad in Saudi, although that’s not all profit.  Benfica received a significant slice of that fee, and we paid £6m for him initially.  So we have paid approx. £14m (£6m and €10m/£8m), received £25m and Benfica earned just north of £6m kickback when he left Glasgow in 2023.

Benfica are £12m up for nurturing Jota, Celtic are up around £5m, despite having to sign him twice.  The whole episode is full of lessons.

The first is for wingers.  Why did such a talent fail to make the cut in Saudi and France?  This goes back to a lesson we first learned with Patrick Roberts, also a prodigious winger.  Players like Jota, Patrick and (I suggest) Nicolas Kuhn thrive in dominant teams.  They have the craft to open up tight defences.  This contrasts with the more athletic type of winger, commonly found in sides who dominate their leagues less than Celtic.

Look at the physicality of the wingers we face on Wednesday, or any winger outside the elite teams in England.  They are generally taller and always strong.  More like Daizen Maeda and James Forrest than Nicolas or Jota.  Daizen would be first name on the team sheet for a side struggling in the French league.  They need someone with the engine to get up and down the field all game.  By contrast, a winger who can unlock a packed defence is superfluous to requirements.

There are also lessons for our player development strategy.  I used to flinch when I read one of our teenage talents heading to Bayern Munich or Liverpool, less so Watford.  Players who make it through the youth ranks at Celtic are already elite in some respects.  A few are offered contracts for the first team and so many knock it back to try their chances elsewhere.

If it’s Jurgen Klopp or a Bayern Munich coach, can you blame them?  Yes, of course, you can, but we need to learn to not worry about it.  There is nothing we can do if the likes of Klopp gets in the room with a young Celtic player.

What if they are offered three times what Celtic assess is the going rate for their talents at Watford?  We need to learn not to sweat this.  The major work in player development is seldom their innate talent, it is more commonly their developmental path.

There is absolutely a lesson for Celtic from watching what Benfica do.  A club who can afford to discard a talent like Jota, who was well down the Class of 2018 list, have different options from us.

Finally, we need to examine how we (and specifically who) identified Jota.  That process also delivered Nicolas Kuhn and must be nurtured.  I have my worries on that front.

Going forward, the job of Celtic centre forward is about to be come the easiest in the game.  With defenders doubling up on Kuhn and Jota, there will be so much space through the middle, we might be able to bring back Albian Ajeti and still score goals!

Welcome home, Jota!

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  1. The problem isn’t just a club or scouting one P67; the image of the SPFL isn’t exactly burning bright.

     

     

    Jamesy Forrest has long been a class winger capable of scoring goals at domestic, Euro and international levels; but there was hardly a slew of clubs chasing his signature. Aiden had to go to Russia to get to the English big leagues.

     

     

    Only now are we seen again as able to produce decent (mostly midfield) players.

     

     

    If the Celtic CF job’s gonnae get easier, I’ll settle for Adam and Johnny Kenny getting turns to bang them in.

     

     

    Meanwhile, do we sit tight and play contained v Villa; or go out all buns glazing for a shockerooni win ??

  2. Celtic are reportedly in discussions with Norwegian club Sarpsborg 08 to secure the signing of highly-rated winger Sondre Ørjasæter.

     

     

    According to TV2 Sport, the Scottish Premiership champions are eager to finalise the deal before the transfer window closes and may need to pay a fee in the region of £7million to bring the 20-year-old to Glasgow.

     

     

    Discussing the players potential exit, Sarpsborg sporting director Hampus Andersson told TV2: “There has been interest in Sondre throughout this transfer window, but from experience it is only in the last days of the transfer window that things really happen. So we will see what happens.

  3. Good Afternoon Celts…

     

     

    Great to see Jota on the wing again…

     

     

    Welcome back…

     

     

    Once again apologies for not getting back to those who replied to my comment yesterday morning.

     

     

    Just a couple of points….

     

     

    BURNLEY78 on 27TH JANUARY 2025 11:16 AM,

     

     

    Perspective, is of course everything, so it was interesting reading your comments on our domestic rivals and that of Brendan Rodgers’ track record.

     

     

    Two years ago you were telling us we had never had it so good – that we were in a Generation of Domination.

     

     

    Well, our nearest rivals then were bankrupt Rangers, and financial basket case R2ngers.

     

     

    Why was dominating them our greatest achievement two short years ago, yet is now like taking candy from a baby!?

     

     

    BR’s track record is great – he is a top manager, of course track records are relatively, if you compare him to Ancelotti for instance.

     

     

    Yet it’s definitely better than Gordon’s, Lenny’s, Tony Mowbray’s, Ronny Delia’s and he’s done better in both Scotland and England than your hero – Ange.

     

     

    MAJESTIC HARTSON on 27TH JANUARY 2025 12:19 PM

     

     

    “Chairbhoy

     

     

    “ The Ange rea moved us on…”

     

     

    Any relation to Chris?”

     

     

    Well, turns out they were on the same road…

     

     

    …no, not the one taking them home for Christmas – this one where, “you must learn this lesson fast and learn it well – This ain’t no upwardly mobile freeway

     

     

    Oh no, this is the road, this is the road, this is the road to hell;)

     

     

    Interesting lead today – if you look at Celtic’s record arrivals, Jota is top.

     

     

    This must mean, as he was bought and sold in the same finacial year, Benfica’s initial fee and their sell on fee is added together…

     

     

    https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/celtic-glasgow/transferrekorde/verein/371

     

     

    Hail Hail

  4. Welcome home Jota – do we have a confirmed shirt number for him yet does anyone know?

     

     

    quadrophenian on 28th January 2025 12:20 pm

     

    “Meanwhile, do we sit tight and play contained v Villa; or go out all buns glazing for a shockerooni win ??”

     

     

    I’d keep it tight as long as possible. They will likely need a win to avoid 2 more games so they should open up more as the game goes on which should suit us – even more so if we had Maeda and/or Kyogo in the team but such is life.

     

     

    I’d take another “Idah” goal in the 85th minute – my heart should be calmer this time as the result is not as critical this week.

     

     

    QB

  5. Saint Stivs on 28th January 2025 12:00 pm

     

    we have played villa several times away in the past

     

    ———

     

    I can’t remember ever playing them in European competition, in fact i cant remember ever playing them in a meaningful game.

     

     

    Can you please amplify?

     

     

    HH.

     

     

    PS : When they go low, we go high.

     

    The Jota song is brilliant as are many other Celtic songs.

  6. I imagine Kuhn’s agent will be checking out how much Jota is on and whether that kicks off some behind the scenes discussions over a new contract. I thought we might have been subjected to some low ball bids for Kuhn this window, hopefully not.

  7. Quadrophenian

     

     

    It’s a great question. If we had Maeda I would be going for the Atalanta plan with a degree of confidence that we could make it work.

     

     

    It’s a game where a draw is not as much value to us unless we get lucky with other results. Only a win is likely to move the dial. Likewise for them it needs to be a win and hope but a loss could condemn them to unseeded play off slot.

  8. Greenpinata

     

     

    You are correct. We have never played them in a meaningful game in the years of official European competitions.

  9. Greenpinata on 28th January 2025 12:49 pm

     

    Saint Stivs on 28th January 2025 12:00 pm

     

     

     

     

    we have played villa several times away in the past

     

     

     

     

    ———

     

     

     

     

    I can’t remember ever playing them in European competition, in fact i cant remember ever playing them in a meaningful game.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Can you please amplify?

     

     

    —————-

     

     

    you are offcourse right, we have never played them in europe, and our meetings are long in the past and away back to our early days.

     

     

    i would though say, they are hardly giants of the game, sure they won a european cup, and defended it to a semi final, but this season is only their 3rd ever at the ec/ecl level.

     

     

    in the last 20 years or so, infrequent participants in the europa and even conference league, but they never did well.

     

     

    they won an intertoto once.

     

     

    lets not fear them, aye they are decent in england, but we need to be savvy like atalanta away, and not like dortmund away.

     

     

    i feel we will miss maeda badly.

     

     

    lets just not get pumped/

  10. CHAIRBHOY on 28TH JANUARY 2025 12:33 PM

     

     

    “This must mean, as he was bought and sold in the same finacial year, Benfica’s initial fee and their sell on fee is added together…”

     

     

    His purchase was in the 2022 accounts, the sale in the 2023 accounts

     

     

    Transfermarkt has added the sell on to the initial fee after the sale to Saudi.

  11. lets all do the huddle on

    as good as it is to have Jota back, i think our strategy would want the players we sell on for big money to become a major success with their new clubs to an extent that there would be no chance of them coming back to us.

     

     

    the more players that dont succeed after leaving us for big bucks means clubs will become more reluctant in the future to pay a pile of money for our players which isnt good for our model.

     

     

    a doube-edged sword if you ask me.

  12. Will be watching the game from Manchester as off to Palombaggia for the month of February. Hope for a positive result to see me off – no posts till March. HAIL HAIL

  13. CELTIC40ME @ 1:08 PM,

     

     

    Yes, it’s interesting why they’ve done that and it was speculation on my part.

     

     

    However I believe he was signed on 01 July 2022 and sold in June 2023, Celtic’s financial year ending June 30th of course.

     

     

    You will of course be more

  14. I’ve not had any time to look into all the permutations but I think its almost impossible to make top 8 even with a win so only the cash for the result and for final placing are of value to us, as well as co-efficient points, reputation, and other intangibles.

     

     

    If it’s 0-0 nearing the end of the game and we’d get an “easier” draw if we were to lose, do we ask CCV to pass the ball into our net again? I imagine our potential opponents will be changing every few minutes – another interesting aspect of the new format.

     

     

    QB

  15. Thinking about tomorrow night Villa are exactly the sort of team our wingers dont really show up against in Europe. Cash and Digne are two quality players, Cash is a big strong dirty bastard, the sort of right back Jota struggled against in the Champions League. Digne is a bit more of a footballer but still a very good defender.

     

     

    Its a great opportunity for Nicolas, he’s not been at his best when he’s taking the ball with his back to goal recently, if he can show it against Villa he’ll go a long way to proving he has the ability to play at EPL level.

  16. 2-3 weeks ago I’d have been praying for Man City next. They couldn`t buy a win. Looks like they have turned the corner since then.

  17. GlassTwoThirdsFull on

    Great to finally get a replacement for Jota! Or at least one of sufficient quality. Better late than never I suppose.

     

    Really enjoying the long-overdue ambition being shown. Interesting to see if it will be sustained if we pull too far in front of partner club…..

  18. We played Villa in a friendly at CP early 90s I think, Neale Cooper attacked Nicholas as soon as he took centre, over the ball assault in 3 seconds

  19. QuadBhoy on 28th January 2025 1:23 pm:

     

     

    “I imagine our potential opponents will be changing every few minutes”

     

     

    Exactly. A late goal over 1,000 miles away could change our play-off opponents from Real Madrid or Bayern Munich to Brest or PSV in an instant.

     

     

    I hope the BBC or UEFA put up a live “play-off current picture” facility to show how it looks minute by minute as the evening unfolds.

  20. There are some scnarios which do see us sneak a top 8 spot. Not impossible either.

     

     

    The issue of us needing a 3-1 or 4-2 or 3-0 win would be the problem for some of these.

     

     

    For Villa a 1-0 win gets them top 8. A defeat would take them into unseeded territory.

     

     

    A score draw should give us a chance for a decent seeded slot. Perhaps v Brest or Lille or Monaco if or Feyenoord if all goes to plan eg Real and Bayern win.

  21. bournesouprecipe on

    Team for Birmingham

     

     

    Schmeichel

     

     

    Johnston CCV Trusty Taylor

     

     

    Engels CalMac Hatate

     

     

    Kuhn Idah Yang

  22. Chairbhoy

     

     

    “BRs track record is great – he is a top manager, it’s definitely better than Gordon’s, Lenny’s, Tony Mowbray’s, Ronny Delia’s and he’s done better in both Scotland and England than your hero – Ange”.

     

     

    Hmmm not so sure. Lenny and Strachan in their prime fared much better in the champions league, which I think is probably the best measure to use. BRs record up until playing away to Atalanta this season, was abysmal.

  23. celtic40me on 28th January 2025 1:24 pm

     

    “Thinking about tomorrow night Villa are exactly the sort of team our wingers don’t really show up against in Europe.”

     

     

    If our main wingers don’t generally show up well, what chance for Yang or Palma? I wonder if BR will go 4-3-2-1 or 4-4-1-1 and play Khun behind Idah and go without out and out wingers?

     

     

    BigChipsUK on 28th January 2025 1:36 pm

     

    “I hope the BBC or UEFA put up a live “play-off current picture” facility to show how it looks minute by minute as the evening unfolds.”

     

     

    I think the table @ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/champions-league/table gets updated as the games are in play, though not the quickest and VAR checks add more uncertainty. I might shift some TVs around and try to get our game on one screen and a goals show on another if there is a goals show given how many games are on at once.

     

     

    Really looking forward to tomorrow with having no real pressure on the result.

     

     

    QB

  24. !!Bada Bing!!… £7M for a 21 year old kid that nobody outside his current country have heard of, playing in a league that’s inferior even to the SPL?

     

     

    At that price is he a better bet than Palma, who has more experienced at both club and national level, with some notable recent international achievements? And Palma is effectively free of charge as he’s already in the door.

  25. QUADBHOY on 28TH JANUARY 2025 1:49 PM

     

     

    A difficult choice ahead for Brendan, especially without our two best pressing attackers

     

     

    I have no idea what I’d do. Maybe the night for experiment with nothing much to lose

  26. QuadBhoy on 28th January 2025 1:49 pm

     

     

    That BBC link gives you the live table (with slight delays as you say), but it doesn’t give a current view of the play-off draw based upon those standings. The formula for the draw is as below, and it would be nice to see this populated with the teams in those positions as the evening unfolds.

     

     

    Play-offs:

     

    24 vs 9 or 10 (PO 1)

     

    23 vs 10 or 9 (PO 2)

     

    22 vs 11 or 12 (PO 3)

     

    21 vs 12 or 11 (PO 4)

     

    20 vs 13 or 14 (PO 5)

     

    19 vs 14 or 13 (PO 6)

     

    18 vs 15 or 16 (PO 7)

     

    17 vs 16 or 15 (PO 8)

     

     

    Last 16:

     

    PO1 vs 7 or 8

     

    PO2 vs 8 or 7

     

    PO3 vs 5 or 6

     

    PO4 vs 6 or 5

     

    PO5 vs 3 or 4

     

    PO6 vs 4 or 3

     

    PO7 vs 1 or 2

     

    PO8 vs 2 or 1

     

     

    On current placings we would get Bayern Munich or Real Madrid in the play-offs, and should we by some miracle beat them we’d face Liverpool or Barcelona in the last 16.

  27. GlassTwoThirdsFull on

    Il Padrino

     

    We were a Pot 2 team in Strachan’s time, in the top 20 rich list of European clubs and signing players from Real Madrid, Milan and Chelsea – a bit away from where we are now! Lennon’s record was patchy (to be generous) – Cluj, Ferencvaros, Copenhagen, Braga, Utrecht, Sparta Prague…..

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