The Herald believes that Jota will join Celtic on a permanent basis but there is no guarantee that he will be with Ange Postecoglou’s squad in Austria next week.
A daily vigil is well underway as Celtic supporters interpret different messages as they wait for news of the winger completing his move from Benfica.
Without much fuss a permanent move for Cameron Carter-Vickers was completed on June 10 but so far the Jota announcement has remained elusive.
Since the transfer from Spurs was announced Celtic have been strongly linked with Alexandro Bernabei with the Argentine left-back appearing closer to joining Celtic than Jota.
Summing up Celtic’s position in the transfer market, The Herald reports:
Those pre-season preparations will be stepped up next week when the international players return from their extra week’s respite, and Celtic fans will be desperate for Jota and Bernabei to join them as the squad travels to Austria.
Every indication is that at the very least, Bernabei will. The Argentinian has agreed a contract and passed his medical this week, with Celtic and Lanus understood to have agreed to a 10 percent sell-on clause as part of the £3.75m deal.
Herald Sport also understands that Jota will indeed follow him in signing a long-term deal with Celtic, as the club have long been confident about, even if their pre-season base in Wiener Neustadt-Land doesn’t turn out to be the next immediate stop in his whistle-stop world tour.
How reliable the Herald’s source is is open to question but more than six weeks after Celtic’s SPFL title presentation no other club has been linked with Jota.
Celtic have still to release their home kit for the 22/23 season, if Jota is included in the launch it will put an awful lot of minds to rest.
The home kit launch is what I’ve been suspecting for a while. Both lads in new hoops on Friday!