Jota back at Celtic is a behind the scenes masterplan as Brendan Rodgers insists 'I still want ANOTHER striker'
Brendan Rodgers expects the Kyogo-Jota cross channel switch to go through in the next 24 hours - and confirmed the Japanese star has been wanting to leave for months.
Kyogo flew to France on Thursday to complete the formalities of his £10m move to Rennes and former wing king Jota is set to travel in the opposite direction to soften the blow for Hoops fans. Rodgers revealed he never wanted to lose Kyogo who has struck 85 goals in three and a half years in Glasgow.
But after the 30-year-old made it clear he wanted a new challenge the manager refused to stand in his way. Rodgers said: “He's obviously travelled for a medical so that'll probably be confirmed, I would say, in the next 24 hours. Listen, it's nothing to do with the club. Naturally, as the manager, I love him. He's probably one of our top players and someone who fits perfectly into how we play and how we work.
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“But no, Kyogo has expressed an interest to leave a number of months back, and obviously then that expression becomes stronger, and then obviously it gets to the stage where he clearly really wants to leave. And then sadly we have to then do a deal and look to finalise that for him.
“So , listen, he's been an incredible player for the club for the three and a half years he's been here. Like I said, he's not someone that we wanted to lose, but we have to accept where he's at. And after the work that he's done to give to Celtic at his age and where he's at, then we have to respect that.”
Rodgers also confirmed that he hopes the deal to bring Jota back to the club from Rennes will go through in the next 24 hours. But he still wants to bring in a striker to replace Kyogo before the end of the window.
He said: “It's been in the making for a while so there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes and hopefully we can get someone to add that strength to our squad. I still want another striker.”
