Celtic in surprise return rumour after £25million star raises ‘controversy’ in social media move

Celtic won the league title twice during the player’s spell in Scotland

Former Celtic winger Jota has cast doubt over his future at Al-Ittihad following a recent social media move.

As per a report by Arabic sports news outlet HiHi, the player has ‘raised controversy’ regarding his future in Saudi Arabia ahead of the summer.

He has apparently deleted the announcement of his transfer to his current club video and only kept on the clip of his farewell to the fans at Celtic Park which has angered sections of the fanbase online fuelling speculation he could return.

Jota, who is 25-years-old, made the £25million switch to Al-Ittihad last year but has since struggled to make an impact. They failed to win a trophy in this past season and he has said: “We apologise to the fans for leaving the King’s Cup and the rest of the tournaments. We have to improve ourselves. We will work to correct the results in the upcoming matches.

“Al-Ittihad is a big club and will return to winning trophies. It is difficult to express what happened in today’s match.”

The former Portugal youth international remains under contract at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium until 2025 but it remains to be seen whether he will stay put there behind the next transfer window.

He made 29 appearances in all competitions for the Saudi Pro League outfit in this past term and chipped in with five goals.

Celtic signed him back in 2021 on an initial loan deal that was later made permanent and he was a real hit during his time in Scotland.

The Lisbon-born man went on to play 83 games for the Hoops altogether and found the net on 28 occasions, helping his ex-club win the Scottish Premiership, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup during his time there.

He worked well under Ange Postecoglou before following the Australian out the exit door 12 months ago.

Postecoglou was able to get the best out of Jota and has previously expressed his gratitude towards the forward: “Jota in his career before he got to us (Celtic) wasn’t going on the trajectory he wanted and he was the one who made the decision to come here and work hard at his game and improve, and he is.

“He’s constantly improving, like all the group, and that needs to keep happening because there’s more in them, there’s more in him and I’m sure he’s working his way towards that.”

Prior to his move to Celtic, he rose up through the academy ranks at Benfica and was a regular for them at various youth levels as a youngster.

He broke into their B team before going on to play 33 matches for the first-team, chipping in with two goals.

Jota was loaned out to Real Vallodolid and Celtic to get some experience under his belt before he was sold permanently to the latter.

Although it is increasingly likely that he will leave Al-Ittihad in the near future, it would be a surprise to see him return again to Glasgow, even after his recent Instagram shake-up.

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