Jota will miss the weekend trip to Tynecastle to face Hearts as Ange Postecoglou provided the latest state of play on his Celtic squad.
The fans' favourite has missed a run of games through injury and he will once again sit out the trip to the capital alongside team-mate David Turnbull. The Aussie boss doesn't want to rush back the duo with important games on the horizon. Jota has a chance of making his big return in the Champions League showdown with Shakhtar Donetsk at Parkhead.
He has been training away from the main group as he steps up his recovery. In terms of the squad that secured a Premier Sports Cup semi-final place by defeating Motherwell 4-0 at Fir Park - all is available for selection in Gorgie. The Hoops now face Kilmarnock at Hampden as they bid to go one step closer again to retaining the trophy they won last term.
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Speaking about Jota and the rest of his squad, Postecoglou said: "Pretty much the same as it has been the last two or three games. The guys closest are Jota and Turnbull coming back but with the team travelling well and being able to rotate there is no point rushing them back.
"We’ve got some important games coming up so they should be available next week at some point. The rest of the squad came through Wednesday (at Motherwell) well so we’ll have quite a strong line up tomorrow."
Asked if he may play next week, the Hoops boss added: "Yeah, a chance but again we don’t want to rush him back, we’ll gauge by how he is going. He is training, he’s away from the main group, we’ll integrate him into team training some point next week."
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