Mark Wilson expresses one ‘worry’ about Jota returning to Celtic

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What a whirlwind few days it has been in Glasgow and that’s not a reference to the weather, but the goings-on at Celtic Football Club.

After Celtic beat Young Boys in the Champions League on Wednesday night, not many would have predicted that Brendan Rodgers would be preparing for the Aston Villa game with Jota and without Kyogo Furuhashi.

But in the crazy and quick-moving world of football, that’s the case because the deal for Jota has been sealed and he is back in Paradise.

When Rodgers returned to the club during the summer of 2023, he had just missed out on working with the all-action forward because he was securing a big-money move to Saudi Arabia.

But now, everyone is going to see just how the 25-year-old will fare under the Celtic boss after smashing it up under Ange Postecoglou.

Nothing has changed since Jota left because he won the Treble upon his departure and now the same can be delivered by the time the final ball is kicked this season.

Mark Wilson shares ‘worry’ about Jota re-signing for Celtic

It’s a bitter-sweet moment for the Celtic faithful because, whilst many are delighted to see Jota back, they are also gutted to see Kyogo leave.

Mark Wilson told Clyde 1 Superscoreboard that Jota’s arrival ‘softens the blow’ of their Japan superstar joining Rennes and how Celtic’s ‘entertainer’ is back in the green and white colours.

But Wilson did admit that his one ‘worry’ about the Portuguese star’s signing is that ‘a lot of the time’ players returning to their old stomping ground ‘doesn’t work’.

“It softens the blow that a hero like Jota (returns) because that’s what he was to Celtic fans,” said Wilson. “He was a hero because he had the tricks and flicks, but he had the end product as well. That’s why he gets punted for £25 million. That softens the blow (to Kyogo leaving).

“A lot of the time it doesn’t work (players returning to their former clubs). That is the worry with players returning to their former clubs.

“In a business sense, of course, it made sense for him to leave. I think all parties were right to do it and as soon as his name popped up, every Celtic fan would have been interested in having him back. Purely because of his flair. Kuhn on the one side has that electric pace and can skip by. But Jota is the entertainer. Let’s be honest, at Celtic Park, fans go along to be entertained a lot of the time and he is certainly one who brought it in his first spell. Can he do it again? What is he going to look like under Brendan Rodgers? Totally different style. A totally different manager and person. I wonder does he get more out of him? Or less? Only time will tell.”

How has Jota faired since leaving Celtic?

As mentioned above, Jota’s move to Saudi Arabia suited all parties. Al-Ittihad got their man, Celtic got a load of money and so did the player.

But despite so much success at Parkhead, it didn’t work out for him and things became worse at Rennes.

Even though Jota joined the French club in the summer, he only played a handful of matches and the perfect situation then presented itself to Celtic.