Fabrizio Romano confirms Al Ittihad interest in Atletico winger, your move Celtic

This means that Celtic could capitalise on the Saudi club’s latest signing move by bringing Jota back to the club.

With Daizen Maeda, Liel Abada and Luis Palma clearly ahead in Brendan’s estimations, the Portuguese attacker would still represent real quality in the first team should he return.

Celtic are progressing with a move for Nicholas Kuhn from Rapid Vienna, who is expected to bolster Celtic’s attacking options for the second half of the season. However, with the clear drop off in quality from the first team to the second pick players (like Tilio, Yang, Forrest, Johnston), moving in again for Jota could be a shrewd signing by Celtic. Especially given the reports suggesting about Liel Abada being unsettled, something which is not expected to result in his departure this month.

Rodgers’ call for quality follows the club’s struggles up front this year, where they have been sluggish. In 83 appearances for Celtic, Jota has scored 28 goals and assisted 26 times.

After his £25m move and agreement of astronomical wages, it appears that Al Ittihad are ready to cut their losses on Jota. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few weeks with transfer interest continuing in the final weeks of January.

If Celtic could manufacture a loan deal with a suitable purchase option, a deal to bring Jota back to the Scottish Champions should be a no brainer.