Soccer Football - Scottish Cup Semi Final - Rangers v Celtic - Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - April 30, 2023 Celtic's Jota celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
Jonny McFarlane has revealed that the combined brains trust that is Steven Gerrard, Micky Beale and Ross Wilson turned down the chance to sign Jota in the summer of 2021.
At that time Ryan Kent was the Seventh Wonder of the World with Scott Wright and Fashion Sakala signed in anticipation of a £30m bid coming in for the former Liverpool starlet.
Clubs and agents circulate player availability to dozens of clubs, it is likely that all clubs in the EPL and English Championship were alerted to Benfica being prepared to send Jota out on loan.
At the end of the summer window Celtic signed Jota, at the end of his first season he had an SPFL winners medal while Kent tried to get over his last minute sitter in the final of the Europa League.
While Celtic snapped Jota up on a permanent deal Wilson and Giovanni van Bronckhorst spent £3m signing Rabbi Matondo and matching his Bundesliga wages.
A good deal for the player given size of the wage on offer. Prior to the Celtic deal, I was told back in the summer of 2021 he was offered to Rangers but it wasn’t progressed. https://t.co/potXPMJ5YW
— Jonny McFarlane (@jonnyrmcfarlane) June 29, 2023
The great thing about McFarlane is that when someone tells him something they know that he will publish it without thinking of a follow up question.
Last season Jota scored three times in the Glasgow derby including winning goals in the SPFL Premiership and Scottish Cup semi-final in April.
So you’ve waited 2 years to say anything ? surely as a journalist you’d report it at the time no ?
— Rangers Toon (@dbngb79) June 30, 2023
You think as a journalist you might have said that at the time ?
— Chris Scott (@christtocs) June 29, 2023
Yeah our signings and scouting has always been second best to Celtics as much as that pains me it’s true.
— Z??I??G??G??Y?? (@ZiggyCurran) June 29, 2023
Sounds about right tbh.
Wilson wouldn’t have been interested since he hadn’t played in Belgium or English.
— Chris McLaughlin (@ChrisMcL16) June 29, 2023
I heard somewhere that we could have had Postecoglou and instead we went for Caxinha ?
Could be a lot a balls tho but it wouldn’t surprise me
— ?? ?? ? (@GP_1872) June 29, 2023
The fact that it wasn’t progressed is just typical us ?
— chic ?????????????????? (@chic_allan) June 30, 2023
Cheers Jonny. Rub it in pal. Another stick to beat Wilson with
— Magic Cantwell (@staunchcantwell) June 29, 2023
Rangers could also have got Ange as manager when Caixinha was booted. However we persued a move for McInnes (ending with Murty till season end) https://t.co/kaGLZ8aPUd
— DelBoy (@derek_find) June 30, 2023
I wonder if they are bringing this up now thinking they might be entitled to a 10% sell on clause from the deal ( you know what they are like ).
Told by whom ? Oh ,another unnamed source ! That’s MacFarlane’s limit as a scoop . (apologies to decent scoops out there ) His whole underwhelming career has been based on invisible men , with no names , supplying alleged information and if asked, he could not prove was genuine . He is so diabolically bad at his work , the deficient daily Record got rid of him …. Think of that for a second !
What decent scoops out there John ! – I take it that you’re referring to Irish, Welsh and English ones (the country and not West Brit Tom obviously)…
They certainly weren’t decent 22 years ago (the last time I bought a paper rag) and unless things have improved – which they clearly haven’t going by the content highlighted by the blogs and forums and subsequently the comments on here –
The only decent Scoops out there are ice cream ones – although when a mechanical digger scoops earth debris outta a grave lair for burial The Daily Record Caracas then that’ll be lots of lovely scoops as well !
Rangers were offered the Lisbon Lions but they had to take them all. Seven of them were Catholics so the deal was called off!
I read in a reliable publication that when McCoist was getting the heave from Sunderland in the summer of 1983 after 9 goals from 65 matches they rang round the clubs in Scotland offering them him, including Celtic but as Billy McNeill had moved to Man City and Davie Hay was yet to be appointed, there was no-one in the building with the authority to make the decision therefore it wasn’t pursued. Stuff like that happens in fitba’ literally all day every day.