Celtic Fans are growing very frustrated that the club have still not announced the permanent signing on Portuguese winger Jota from Benfica.
Talks of the deal and an announcement of the signing ‘being close’ has literally been the story for months now.
So with the Celtic players back in training today, why hasn’t the signing been announced yet?
By all accounts, Celtic had a deal in place with Benfica, which meant they would have to pay around £6.5m to trigger the option to buy that they had on the player, after his very successful time on loan last season.
Again, by all accounts, Celtic have agreed to pay this and Benfica do not have Jota in their plans moving forward, and he was pictured at Benfica’s training ground last week, apparently ‘saying his goodbyes’.
Yet, he still hasn’t signed for Celtic.
One rumour I have heard is that the sticking point is the release clause in any deal Jota signs with Celtic, his agent is apparently wanting to insert an £8m release clause for the player, which, yes, is around £1.5m more that what Celtic will be paying Benfica for his services, but when the time eventually comes to sell the player on, the club will be hoping to get substantially more than £8m for him.
Again, this is just something I heard last week, it may not be the case at all, but I do think there could be some truth in it. It would explain why there is a hold up when both clubs seem to have reached an agreement and the players is also happy to sign with us, but yet still hasn’t done.
Assuming there is some truth to this, and the agent is being firm on the low release clause being inserted, it does leave Celtic is a tricky situation. A club could come in for the player in January and trigger his release clause and the player could leave mid way through the season for example, t could happen at the end of the window with Celtic having no time to find a suitable replacement.
Would Celtic be better signing another player instead this summer without that type of stipulation, or is Jota simply too good a player that we should take the deal for short term gain but leave ourselves open to a potential headache down the line?
If there is indeed any truth to this, it is certainly a very interesting but also problematic dilemma for the Celtic board and Ange Postecoglou to consider.
If this IS The case, the agent should be sacked and if not – we walk away.
The club has supported Jota. We will see what the lad is really made of now.
If this is the only stumbling block, then Jota could easily waive it. However, more times than not the agent is only the mouthpiece and the instructions come from the player himself. Thursday is the cut off date, so if he hasn’t signed by then, we should concentrate our focus on other potentials. Last thing we need to be getting drawn into is another Eddie Howe situation. No player is bigger than the club and we will find a replacement if Jota or his agent want to play hardball. If it doesn’t happen, then this will certainly hurt Jota’s career development. Agents are the curse of modern football and it’s time they had their wings clipped.
HAIL HAIL
KEEP THE FAITH🍀🍀
It’s in Jotas hands. If he wants to sign he signs. Agents interfere too much in transfers. I understand his Agent is looking out for him and wants the best deal for him. But I don’t see anyone battering down his door to sign him. Needs to be careful or he will be another Paddy Roberts. If he hasn’t signed by next Friday then we look elsewhere. No one is bigger than the club
Àgree with the 3above comments, either sign or get to fek.