BRENDAN RODGERS will be given £12.5million for his transfer war chest if – or when – Filipe Jota quits Celtic.
The Portuguese winger is allegedly on his way to cash-rich Saudia Arabian club Al-Ittihad after terms were agreed with just some details to be rubber-stamped.
The fee has yet to be disclosed for the proposed dramatic transfer, but the champions can expect at least £25million for the fans’ favourite who joined from Benfica in a £6.5million switch last summer after an impressive season-long loan.
The Portuguese giants are due a whopping 30 per cent of the profits of any sell-on fee, as CQN reported in June last year.
PICK IT OUT…Filipe Jota heads the Scottish Cup semi-final winner past Allan McGregor.
That would see £5.55million heading for the Lisbon club. Add that to the original fee and that means they have picked up £12.5millon for the 24-year-old forward who was rarely close to a first-team place and had spent the 2020/21 campaign on a temporary transfer at Spanish outfit Real Valladolid.
That would leave the Hoops with an overall profit of £12.5million on Jota which would go to swell Rodgers’ funds as he looks to strengthen his squad for his comeback campaign.
Although the Parkhead club have remain tightlipped over the reports and the fee has yet to be determined, they can expect something in the region of £25million – especially as another Saudi Pro League side, Al Hilal, have just paid £20million on Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly, as reported in FourFourTwo.
The Senegalese centre-back is 32, eight years Jota’s senior.
THUMBS UP…Filipe Jota celebrates another Celtic goal.
There are also reports the Celt could pick up something in the region of an annual tax free salary in the region of a mind-boggling £10million.
Money appears to be no stumbling block for the Saudis and Koulibaly will be joined in the Middle East by former Stamford Bridge team-mates Hakim Ziyech, Edouard Mendy and N’Golo Kante.
If Jota does move to the Gulf State he will team up with Real Madrid legend Karim Benzema with the 35-year-old France World Cup hitman arriving earlier this month.
