The second Brendan Rodgers era is officially underway as the Celtic players returned to training on Monday to be put through their paces.
But there was one notable absentee and it was perhaps unsurprising as Jota was posted missing as his move to Al-Ittihad nears the finish line. The Portuguese superstar looks set to be the latest big name to chase the Middle Eastern megabucks and at 24, the Saudi Pro League are hoping he's the type of signing that well help legitimise and frame them as more than a retirement league for established pros past their best.
Al-Ittihad are paying the big bucks to land him; the fee in total will be around the £25m mark with Benfica due 30 per cent of the profit on the £6.5m deal that took him to Parkhead permanently a year ago, working out at around £5.5m. Jota will be taking home just shy of £200k per week according to sources in Saudi and as he looks to get the move over the line, he was absent from the big day at Lennoxtown as the players returned to hit the ground running.
It seems his new fans are getting a bit excited too. IttiMania, an established source for Al-Ittihad news on Twitter, shared a compilation video of his time at Parkhead featuring his earworm 'Jota on the Wing' tune, as performed by massive Celtic fan Ellie Dixon at before their second home clash with Rangers last season.
It won't upset things for Rodgers too much though as he does have two new players to choose from. Odin Thiago Holm and Marco Tilio, the latter of whom may be viewed as a direct Jota replacement, will be looking to show what they can do ahead of the big pre-season kick-off against Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan on Wednesday July 19.
He'll be hoping to have more signings in the door by then too with South Korean midfielder Yang Hyun-jun doing everything he can to push through his move to Celtic Park. He's currently at war with Gangwon who are determined to keep hold of him until their season finishes in the winter but he's accused the club of breaking their "promise" to let him leave if an offer from Europe arrived.
And now he's even offered to front up cash himself to convince the club to let him leave. He said: “I want to go to Celtic this summer. I hope Gangwon will allow me to transfer. If the transfer fee isn’t enough, I’ll even give my salary. I hope Gangwon will allow it.”
And as the new signings take centre-stage, Rodgers is clearing his decks of some fringe players with Adam Montgomery heading out on loan. He spent last season on loan at St Johnstone and now heads south to Fleetwood with Scott Brown utilising his Parkhead connections to get a deal done. He heads straight to Ireland to link up with the Cods on their pre-season tour.
