Martin Boyle reckons Jota couldn’t turn down his megabucks move to the Saudi Pro League and the opportunity to become Karim Benzema’s supply man.
The Hibs star was a trailblazer when he left Easter Road in a £2.5million move to Al-Faisaly 18 months ago. But while Boyle’s stint in the Middle East was cut short after his club were relegated, leading to a sharp return to Leith, Jota has joined an Al-Ittihad side packed with superstar quality including five-time Champions League winner Benzema.
Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton took a swipe at the Portuguese ace in his Record Sport column, claiming he’d thrown his career in the bin and would soon become a forgotten man. And section of Celtic supporters have slaughtered the 24-year-old for ditching Celts in favour of Saudi royals too – despite the club raking in £25m. But Boyle insists it’s a job opportunity that would be too good to turn down.
He said: “Everyone has their reasons, family reasons or whatever. Because he’s young, he maybe gets a bit of criticism for it but at the end of the day it’s a job opportunity.
“He hasn’t been at Celtic long and he’s made them a lot of money. To be fair, he’s picked a decent team. He’s going to be playing with N’golo Kante and Benzema. It’s not exactly teams off the grid.
“Fair play to him. I mean Benzema, I won’t speak on behalf of him but he’s won five Champions Leagues.
“Cristiano Ronaldo going to the league set a trend. Seeing players like that go over, I don’t see why others can’t do it.
“It was only a matter of time ‘till everyone jumped on the bandwagon and joined him. It’s going to be a right competitive league.
“I’m sure Jota will handle it fine. He’s a top quality player who has played in big games for Celtic. He’ll be in a good team and supplying goals for Benzema will be quite nice!”
Despite the stampede of top stars to the oil-rich state, Boyle insists he has no regrets about his quick return to Scotland – other than the ACL injury that wiped out his season and deprived him of a place at the World Cup with Australia. The 30-year-old said: “When we got relegated it was a no-brainer to come back to Hibs. The money went out the window.
“I could have stayed in the second division and plodded along but I wanted to come back and play competitive football and be in contention for the World Cup. I put football first. Looking back in hindsight – with the injury – I probably should have stayed!
“Would I do it again? I’m cracking on now age-wise. I’m settled here, happy, and just want to get this injury over with and get back enjoying football again. We’ll see what happens in the future.”
Celtic had already brought a ready-made replacement for Jota in Aussie wing king Marco Tilio. Boyle has first-hand knowledge of the 21-year-old speedster, having seen him take his place in the Socceroos squad at last year’s World Cup.
And he reckons the latest Aussie to hop across the globe will light up Scottish football. He said: “Marco’s a great guy. I get on well with him. It was spoken about that he would replace me in the Australia squad before we flew out. That was fine, I knew we had to have a replacement at hand.
“There probably wouldn’t have been anyone better in that situation. He’s been in a lot of Socceroos camps, I don’t think he’s quite made the impact he would have liked. He’s had limited opportunities.
“But he’s played for the Olyroos (Under-23s) and done well. He’s been excellent for Melbourne City and deserves his move. I’m sure he will showcase his talents.
“He’s tiny .. smaller than me! But his stature, physicality and that... you would never be able to tell if he is right or left-footed. He has natural ability and if he’s given the opportunity, I’m sure he’ll do well.
“He’s good at going by people, has a low centre of gravity and gets out of situations, has quick feet, plays one-twos and if you’ve seen some of his goals, he never seems to score tap-ins. He has the ability to score really good goals.”
Boyle is rooming with another Aussie youngster, Lewis Miller, as Hibs pound the pre-season yards in Marbella. And he reckons the right-back has to seize the opportunity presented by Chris Cadden’s injury to kick on from his first season in Leith.
He said: “If you look at Millsy, he is some size. He’s my room-mate out here and takes up half the room!
“He took a while to bed in and Cadds was so consistent in that position. When he got the opportunity against some big teams he showed he’s very good one v one defensively.
“We’re all disappointed Cadds is out but it’s an opportunity for someone else. I’m sure he will grab it with both hands.
“It’s a lively room. I lost the key yesterday and he went absolutely mental. He sent me a text, I wish I could repeat it, it was the funniest thing I’ve ever read. One long paragraph of abuse!
“He’s some character. If I can help him along the way, fantastic.”
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