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In the last few hours there have been rumours swirling that Celtic superstar Jota is on the verge on a move to Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad.

The news was first put out there by a Qatari TV station on Twitter, who have a massive 1.4m followers, which did indicate there would likely be something in the story.

This then lead to the SMSM reporting on the story, but they were pretty much just repeating what the initial tweet said rather than giving their own info.

And a short time ago Stephen McGowan then gave an update saying unless there is a late turn of events, Jota is Saudi bound, for a fee “in excess of £20m”.

And now, to add further validity to this shocking story, which has developed rapidly out of nowhere, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has now weighed in on the situation.

He tweeted tonight:

Al Ittihad are closing in on deal to sign Celtic star Jota! Agreement is being discussed between all parties and it’s now very close. Still not signed.

Jota, keen on the transfer — waiting to discuss final contract details.

It would be extremely tough for us to lose a player like Jota, in fact, he is one player I feel we will really struggle to replace.

He doesn’t just score goals, he scores important goals and also scores them in Europe and in the Champions League.

His all round play and ability is top class.

If Celtic are selling to Saudi, the fee should be closer to £30m as £20m is just not enough for a player of his quality with so many years still remaining on his contract, especially with Benfica due a decent sell on fee.

Check out Romano’s tweet below.