Laid back Ange welcomes Jota back ‘home’

Ange Postecoglou was relaxed and very much in the driving seat as he discussed the return of Jota to Celtic on a permanent basis. 

Three weeks had passed since Cameron Carter-Vickers made a similar commitment with some Celtic fans growing very concerned about the delay. 

When Jota missed the first day of training those concerns held some legitimacy but at 9.25 on Friday morning the anxiety eased as a stream of videos celebrated the return of the winger, this time permanently from Benfica. 

 

 

With Cameron and Jota they had such fantastic years last year. They’re great footballers with a lot of potential to improve but also great people and that’s what we want to build our football club around. 

We are very happy that we’ve got them in permanently and I know that they are as well. They want to be part of this and what we’re creating and it’s great to have them involved. 

Some critics would like to spin the deals from Jota and Carter-Vickers as Celtic standing still- the reality is somewhat different. 

Both players arrived on loan at the end of last August, missing out on pre-season with no opportunity to go abroad for training during the winter break. 

Now, like Reo Hatate, Matt O’Riley, Daizen Maeda and fellow January signing Yosuke Ideguchi, they can fly out to Austria on Monday as Postecoglou puts some intensity into pre-season plans that sees September and October spiced up by Champions League fixtures.