Michael Stewart has pitched a Celtic return to Portuguese star Jota. The 25-year-old is currently exiled in Saudi Arabia after falling down the pecking order at Al Ittihad despite making a £25m move over a year ago. The ex-Benfica talent impressed in his two years at Celtic and the pundit believes that he would be exactly what Brendan Rodgers needs in the final stages of the window.
Speaking to Darrel Currie on the Premier Sports Scottish Football Social Club podcast, the former Hearts midfielder reflected on the positions that Celtic needed to strengthen in.
“I still feel like centre half and out wide are the areas you would want to strengthen that starting eleven.
“That is no disrespect to Liam Scales because he has been brilliant and you would have no qualms about playing him, but if you are going to look to progress in Europe those are the sort of areas (you would look at) – somebody with that X-factor in the wide area. Maybe somebody like Jota back on loan – I can’t believe it’s never been discussed or floated as an idea.”
The player has reportedly made demands to Al Ittihad that he is to be released from his contract as they have no intention of deploying him in the new campaign. The Jeddah club had already relegated Jota to the fringes of the squad but with Laurent Blanc taking over and a number of foreign players being signed, Jota finds himself out of the squad once more.
