Very like with the belated sale of Matt O’Riley this time round, there was little doubt a way of simply how would Celtic cope with out the devastating brilliance of Portuguese wizard, Jota, following his transfer to Saudi Arabia in the summertime of 2023.
Because it occurs, life after the winger – who scored and assists 54 objectives for the Outdated Agency aspect in simply 83 video games – has been comparatively clean, with Brendan Rodgers steering the membership to a home double final time period, with additional dominance trying set to observe within the present marketing campaign.
In the meantime, Jota himself has maybe realised that the grass is not all the time greener elsewhere, with the 25-year-old’s £25m swap to Al-Ittihad taking place like a lead balloon, culminating in a swift exit to Ligue 1 aspect Rennes this summer time.
Now a part of a aspect that’s staring relegation within the face in France’s top-flight, the one-time Benfica man has scored simply as soon as in seven league video games this time period, having endured a merely wretched 18 months or so.
Again at Parkhead, Jota’s outstanding affect in a Hoops shirt actually hasn’t been forgotten, though there are more likely to be few who yearn for his return to Glasgow, such has been the assertion showings of Rodgers’ present attacking crop…
Celtic’s attacking report this season
For a lot of final time period, it appeared as if Luis Palma could be the person to fill the Portuguese’s void on the flanks, with the Honduran ending the season with ten objectives and ten assists to his title in 36 appearances in all competitions – albeit with simply 4 of these objective involvements coming his approach between January and Could.
The 24-year-old is now one thing of a bystander to proceedings, in fact, with Rodgers preferring the relentless presence of Daizen Maeda down the left, the Japanese star taking his objective tally to ten for the season following his positive, curling effort towards Membership Brugge earlier this week.
On the alternative aspect, January arrival Nicolas Kuhn continues to tear it up each domestically and in Europe, with the German sensation chalking up 11 objectives and an extra 11 assists from simply 19 appearances.
Curiously, the previous Fast Vienna star is properly on the way in which to bettering Jota’s finest return in a Celtic shirt, with the latter man ‘solely’ reaching 27 complete objective involvements in every of his two seasons in Glasgow. Kuhn is already at 22, in November.
Rodgers’ new talisman is then not the brand new Jota, however – dare we are saying it – even higher, ought to his rampant kind be maintained.
|
Jota vs Kuhn – Premiership stats |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Stat (*per sport) |
||
|
Video games |
33 |
11 |
|
Objectives |
11 |
5 |
|
Assists |
11 |
6 |
|
Key passes* |
1.9 |
2.1 |
|
Massive possibilities created |
13 |
6 |
|
Move accuracy* |
80% |
75% |
|
Tackles* |
1.2 |
1.8 |
|
Interceptions* |
0.4 |
0.3 |
|
Profitable dribbles* |
1.5 |
1.8 |
|
Possession misplaced* |
14.5 |
12x |
|
Stats through Sofascore |
||
It could possibly be mentioned that one other Jota is, nonetheless, brewing elsewhere within the Hoops squad…
Celtic have a brand new Jota brewing
The Lisbon-born genius first arrived in Scotland on a season-long mortgage deal from Benfica, previous to ultimately becoming a member of completely in the summertime of 2022, for a reported price of simply £6.5m.
That preliminary non permanent swoop actually proved to be a fruitful one for all involved, with the hope being that younger Alex Valle can observe in these footsteps over the following few months.
Like Jota, the teen was plucked from an elite European outfit – Barcelona – over the summer time on a mortgage deal, having beforehand made 29 appearances in Spain’s second tier for Levante in 2023/24.
Whereas the 20-year-old, not like Jota, operates in a left-back berth, he does possess a inventive spark akin to that of the previous Parkhead hero, having already chalked up 4 assists from his first ten appearances beneath Rodgers up to now.
With hypothesis nonetheless rumbling on over Greg Taylor’s future, with simply over six months left to run on his present deal, now could possibly be an ideal time for a altering of the guard.
In a approach, Wednesday’s stalemate with Brugge confirmed that very situation occurring, with younger Valle instantly making his mark off the bench after changing Taylor, having teed up Maeda for the essential equaliser with a neat, threaded cross.
It wasn’t simply that early second alone through which the Barca starlet impressed, nonetheless, having repeatedly appeared to get ahead down the left flank, whereas cleverly profitable a foul for his aspect late on with a surging run via the centre.
The assured and assured nature of his play actually is a pleasure to behold, with the one concern resting in the truth that the participant and his entourage reportedly rejected the inclusion of an option-to-buy clause as a part of the mortgage transfer.
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Possibly he harbours a future for himself again within the first-team at Camp Nou, however on the proof of his vivid begin in Scottish soccer, Celtic needs to be doing all they will to attempt to engineer a everlasting seize on the finish of the marketing campaign.
Like with one other mortgage celebrity within the type of Jota, snapping up Valle for the foreseeable may end in securing a sizeable revenue later down the road. Get him signed!
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