Over the years, Celtic has made numerous successful transfers of players, including Fraser Forster, Odsonne Edouard, Victor Wanyama, and Virgil van Dijk, at a profit.
Selecting gifted young players and assisting them in growing and succeeding in Scotland before later capitalizing on them has become a habit for the Hoops.
They could think that if Brendan Rodgers’ current crop of gems—Matt O’Riley and Luis Palma, for example—continue to improve and gain value, they will eventually bring in a lot for the team.
Portuguese winger Jota was one player the Bhoys recently struck it lucky with; it seems they sold him just in time, as his worth has skyrocketed since leaving Parkhead.
How much was paid to Celtic for Jota?
The Scottish powerhouses made history last summer when they sold the forward to Al Ittihad of the Saudi Pro League for a reported £25 million. This transaction, together with Kieran Tierney’s £25 million move to Arsenal, is the club’s joint-highest selling.
After his initial season-long loan stint in Glasgow, the club swooped to sign Jota from Benfica for a sum of £6.5 million, and that move occurred just 12 months later.
The right-footed winger was a consistent threat down the flank in the Scottish Premiership, as the table above illustrates. He was equally adept at setting up goals and scoring them.
Jota was referred to as Parkhead’s “idol” by scout Jacek Kulig. He consistently showed himself to be a wonderful player, as shown by his incredible goalscoring statistics, and Al Ittihad was persuaded to pay a tantalizing £25 million to get him last summer.
The declining market value of Jota
Sadly, the 24-year-old gem’s tenure with the Saudi Arabian team has been unpleasant because they did not include him in their September Saudi Pro League roster.
Nuno Espirito Santo, the manager at the time, decided to leave him off the squad since there is a cap on the amount of international players who can be chosen.
As a result, Jota has only made 11 appearances for his new club across all competitions since the summer of last year, five of which were in the Pro League prior to them benching him. In those 11 games, he has provided two goals and zero assists.
As of today, February 20, 2024, Transfermarkt’s market value is only €9 million, or £7.7 million, a startling decrease from the £25 million Al Ittihad paid to sign him just a year ago.
His worth has now dropped, so it appears that Celtic struck gold last summer when they acquired that money for him. This implies that the Saudi Arabian team would probably struggle to recover £25 million if they choose to sell him at this time.
Jota’s January interest from West Ham United has apparently been halted by Al Ittihad manager Marcelo Gallardo, who has chosen to include him in his team for the Saudi Pro League, which is scheduled to resume later this month.
Jota should now be able to put together a stretch of strong performances for his team and recoup his market value in order to secure a return to Europe or have a prosperous stint in Saudi Arabia.
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