Jota back at Celtic for silver NOT gold as one of the 'last romantics' shuts down hunger myth
Jota insists a year coining in Saudi Premier League megabucks has not robbed him of a hunger to keep lifting silverware with Celtic.
The winger completed his sensational £8.5m move back to Celtic from Rennes just 18 months after leaving Glasgow in a £25m deal to join Al-Ittihad. Jota picked up an eye-watering £190,000-a-week in the Middle East despite being frozen out of Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad early on due to limits on the number of foreign players. But the Portuguese insists he’s “one of the last romantics” and the currency he puts above everything else is happiness on the football pitch.
Jota's return softens the blow of Kyogo heading in the opposite direction to the Ligue 1 club for £10m. But when it was suggested his spell in the cash-swamped Saudi top tier might have diluted his hunger, the 25-year-old said: “Maybe I’m one of the last romantics of the game and I enjoy the game so much and I’m so obsessed with it and try to do different stuff, things that people will happily live to admire.
“I believe that what you said is true. Some people might be like that and they get too comfortable. But I think in life, you always need an ambition and something to go after. And I feel like for me, obviously, right now is to get success in football terms and to be the best version of myself inside the pitch.
“I can’t speak on behalf of other players because everyone is different. But on my behalf, before money or something else, and people might not believe this, football always comes first and I’m obsessed by the game. I love the game, I breathe and I live for the game.
“The financial situation over there is completely different and we cannot run from it. Obviously, players are taking that as something really important and I think everyone would think the same way. And then it’s on the way you deal with circumstances.
“Obviously, for me, it was really painful because I wanted to have success, I wanted to play, but obviously many things happened that didn’t allow it and it’s the way it is. I need to deal with it and go on.”
The former Benfica man signed a mammoth five-and-a-half year deal to seal his return to the east end of Glasgow. After picking up five trophies including two titles in his previous spell at Parkhead his 2023 exit for Saudi came as a sickener for punters. But Jota insists he’s now ready to settle down and enjoy being, what he called, “home”.
He said: “My aim coming here is not to go now, it’s obviously to stay, to enjoy myself, to be happy on the pitch, to give happiness, to enjoy to the fans and just have a good time where we can conquer titles and achieve important things. What I can promise is that every time I go on the pitch, I always give my best.
“I haven’t played in a long time consecutively. And there’s no amount of training that will give you what the game gives to you.
“So I definitely need this time so I can grow up physically and just go and find the balance that I once found before. And I believe that after that, it will flow naturally.”
The winger never got to taste the latter stages of the Champions League in his first spell at Parkhead. But he’s eligible for Brendan Rodgers’ squad after the league phase ends against Aston Villa on Wednesday night night. And he is desperate to play his part.
He said: “It’s massive, I think that’s what people are looking for. The Celtic fans deserve this, obviously, and for us players to achieve this level, it’s also really good. Credit to the manager, to the staff and to the players, because it was them that made this. I just hope I can help them as well now in this journey, so that we can achieve something good.”
