Concern grow for Jota’s return as injury woes go from bad to worse

JOTA, Celtic’s Superstar from Portugal, has not had his sorrows to seek on the injury front for the past year or so, with a terrible ACL setback curtailing his already stalling career upon his Hoops return…

The man who helped set the tone and pace alongside Kyogo and others during the Ange Postecoglou-era at Celtic Park, endured a somewhat tumultuous time after leaving in a £27 million deal to Saudi Arabia back in the summer of 2023.

His exit coincided with Brendan Rodgers arrival at Paradise and the Irishman was quick to stress how sad he was at the prospect of losing the former Benfica talent.

Brendan Rodgers is a huge admirer of Jota 

Furthermore, the chap who guided Celtic to an Invincible Treble went so far as to admit that one of the key factors in his decision to come back home was to work with the winger, having previously admired his abilities from afar during that phenomenal Postecoglou period in our unbroken history.

A financially lucrative but frustrating time in Saudi Arabia 

Jota himself went through many trials and tribulations in his time away from the club where he put his name on the map. Having fell out of favour at Saudi club Al-Ittihad, Jota spent several months without playing football and was subsequently on the move to Rennes a short time after his move to the Middle East.

That never really improved his footballing life, as he once again found himself on the sidelines looking on in what must have been an unbelievably bad experience for someone who had garnered so much love and admiration in Glasgow.

Jota returned home to Celtic in January 2025

However, Celtic swooped for the neglected attacker in January of 2025, giving him the offer of a lifetime to come back to his eternal home, where he enjoyed the best football of his career. An £8 million bid was enough to convince the French side to part ways with a footballer who they didn’t seem to have a plan for, reuniting the Prodigal Son with his family in the West of Scotland.

Jota’s ACL injury put dampener on Celtic’s Tannadice title party 

Slowly but surely, the Portuguese built himself back up from the ground and had shown glimpses of his old self during that tentative spell back in the Scottish Premiership. The happiness and progress was short lived though, as he succumbed to a traumatic ACL injury on title-winning day against Jim Goodwin’s Dundee United at Tannadice, leaving us all speechless as to the run of luck he was now on.

It has been over a year now and the prognosis for Jota’s return does not look great, with Martin O’Neill claiming Halloween for an expected return to the fold. It’s bitterly disappointing and will no doubt be mentally torturing the Superstar from Portugal.

Jota has endured several setbacks on his long road to recovery

Having endured several setbacks on his long road to recovery from the nasty injury sustained in the City of Discovery, many have questioned whether or not Jota will ever manage to return to the levels and heights he once hit in the green and white hoops.

A rather sombre and grey picture

Now Daniel Biggs, a physiotherapist for Kelty Hearts and a sports therapy lecturer at UHI Perth, has outlined the road ahead for both the player and Celtic, painting a rather sombre and grey picture. “Typically, it’s nine to 11 months – that’s the average time for an ACL grade three full rupture,” Biggs said in an interview with The Celtic Way.

“So if it’s 18 months, then it’s suggesting that the rehab hasn’t gone as smoothly as what was initially hoped. Possible reasons for this could include skin graft taking a little bit longer to heal properly, there might be some infections, some inflammation issues in there, and there could be some setbacks within the rehab programme itself as well.”

The Kelty Hearts employee was less than upbeat about the potential comeback from this one and urged caution on seeing the Jota of old. “I think most of the time, if it’s an ACL injury, a lot of players do come back,” he continued.

Worrying medical opinion on ACL injuries

“What we have found out in research is that there’s a decent percentage, around 66 per cent of players with an ACL injury, do drop down the leagues within three years. So, whether they return – maybe – but we do know that in the long term, they probably won’t reach the ability that they were before the ACL injury.”

Biggs added that it can be a mental game as much as anything else, reiterating the point that the mental health aspect only compounds the physical frailties.

Doubt develops

“The loss of confidence, and you know what, I think there will be some doubt in there as well,” he added. “Particularly if there are setbacks within the rehab, then there might be doubt coming through. Doubt develops, and not just when a return will happen, but whether the player will ever get back to the previous level.”

One can only hope…it would be wonderful to see Jota back on the wing for Celtic. It’s where he belongs. Martin O’Neill revealed at the weekend that it will be towards the end of October at the earliest before we can expect to see Celtic back in action. Let’s hope he’s right.

Fingers crossed for Jota.

Paul Gillespie

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