Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou says £6 million winger Jota can take his game to another level at Celtic this season.
The Parkhead gaffer believes they’ve signed a better player this summer than the one who arrived on loan from Benfica a year ago. After the Portuguese star impressed in a 2-2 friendly draw against Blackburn Rovers, Postecolgou heaped praise on his wide man.
And ahead of their Premiership title defence and a crack at the Champions League group stage, the Hoops boss insists there’s no limit to how good he can be. Postecoglou said: “There’s no ceiling to Jota’ s potential. He was very good today. The attacking players rely on feeling fresh with their athleticism and their speed. I know people said we re-signed two players in Jota and Cameron Carter-Vicker s this summer. But I think we’ve signed two better players than we had last year. That’s why we brought them in. There’s no reason why Jota can’t go further and take his game to another level.
“Last year was probably the first season he settled somewhere. You got the sense that he felt really good at the club within this group.
“That was his first year of really making an impact. Our job is now to make sure we take him to that next level and give him that chance. He’s a really focused, ambitious guy so I’m sure he’ll do that.”
Jota was the stand-out against Blackburn and scored Celtic’s equaliser after Sam Gallagher’s 30-second opener and tormented the English Championship outfit for an hour before going off.
David Turnbull also netted for the home side, with Ben Brereton-Diaz levelling late on.
Postecoglou is pleased with his side’s pre-season progress but still wants to add to his squad. Carl Starfelt, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Reo Hatate missed the friendly draw through injury, while Antony Ralston limped off with a knock.
The Aussie coach is keen to sign two more players in this window and expects to get them over the line this week.
Postecoglou said: “We’re definitely going to add a couple of players. We’re working hard on that and would expect to do it in the next seven days. We’ve had to be patient, that was more important than rushing.
“I’m confident we’re close to the end point in bringing in a couple that will help.
“The squad is looking really good but on days like today we want to make sure we don’t lose our effectiveness when a couple are missing.
“The reality is that we’ll play close to 60 games this season.
“The Champions League on a weekly basis will add stress to the squad which is why I’m keen to get a couple more in, to make sure we’re strong and robust.
“Last year it affected our ability to perform at a really high level. I’m not saying we’ll have a bigger squad but it’ll be more robust with quality.
“Hatate is OK but fell ill on Friday so we had a decision to make.
“Gio has taken a couple of personal days because his missus is due to have a baby. But we sent a personal trainer with him so he’s not getting away with it!
“Ralston is alright, he got a cut on his foot and a couple of stitches but nothing serious.”
Postecoglou was delighted with his team’s first half performance against Jon Dahl Tomasson’s men but admits too many changes after the break upset their tempo.
He said: “It was a decent game, the first half was really good.
“We conceded early but we played some good stuff, the tempo was great and there was a competitive edge so I was pleased with how we went about things.
“In the second half, so many changes disrupted things so it was hard to get a rhythm.
“We probably didn’t get as much out of it as we’d like but there’s a balance between getting players minutes and having fluency.
“I thought the reaction to going behind was really good. We were at it and put a lot of pressure on them.”
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