Bargain Buy – Celtic seem to have paid £1.7m less than reported for Jota

The Celtic Star

·28 de janeiro de 2025

Bargain Buy – Celtic seem to have paid £1.7m less than reported for Jota

Celtic could have paid less for Felipe Jota’s return than was first thought…

Jota’s return to Celtic. Photo Celtic FC

The Superstar from Portugal was unveiled at Celtic Park yesterday afternoon, after signing a five-and-a-half year deal with the club to complete a remarkable return to Glasgow’s East End, and there could be some confusion over the amount paid for his services.

Vídeos OneFootball

Fabrizio Romano quoted the transfer fee at €10 million

It was initially reported that the Bhoys had paid €10 million (£8.4 million) for his sensational homecoming but that figure might well be wide of the mark. For Ouest-France have claimed that the fee could actually be significantly lower than the one that was first reported. The leading French newspaper in Western France claim that the deal was actually worth €8 million (£6.7 million), meaning that the Hoops’ heirarchy have played a blinder if true.

Jota at Celtic Park yesterday. Photo Celtic fan media

At any rate, that’s phenomenal business from the club. Jota, let’s not forget, was a £27 million export to Saudi Arabia with Al-Ittihad just 18-months ago. It’s an astonishing feat by Michael Nicholson and Brendan Rodgers if they have managed to lure the former Benfica winger back to the Scottish Premiership for that kind of money.

Michael Nicholson, Chief Executive Officer of Celtic, looks on from the stands ahead of the Premiership match between Celtic and St. Johnstone at Celtic Park on December 29, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

With the sale of Alexandro Bernabei, we have pretty much covered the lion’s share of the transfer deal to bring Jota home and the club should be commended for it. They do come in for some hefty criticism from the supporters at times – warranted the majority of the time – but there is no getting away from the fact they have pulled an absolute stunt with this one.

Fair play and credit where credit is due.

Paul Gillespie