Celtic will turn his attention from the Scottish premiership this weekend as he prepares to face St. Johnston in the semi-finals of the SFA Cup on Sunday.
Hoops hopes to win the SFA Cup to complete the second domestic highs in the last three seasons, as Ange Postecoglou has already won the League Cup in the 2022/23 campaign.
Brendan Rogers aims to have a perfect domestic campaign despite Matt Orly being Brighton & Hove Albion last summer and Kawagoe losing the prince to Rennes.
The Scottish Giants advanced the Japanese to the French side with a reported fee of £10 million earlier this year, but in return they were able to return Jota to Parkhead.
The Celt reportedly paid a fee of £8 million to sign the Portuguese winger. This was signed for £25 million 18 months after he sold him for £25 million.
There may not be too many complaints about how that window hoop turned out as the forward hits the ground running with a second spell at Parkhead.
Why was Jota a good sign for Celtic?
The former Benfica With had high hopes on his shoulders when he arrived in Glasgow at the transfer window in January.
As you can see from the graphics above, Jota provided consistent quality at the top of the pitch over these two premier seasons under Australia’s head coach with 21 goals and 21 assists.
This meant that it was a reasonable expectation for Jota to come in and quickly strengthen his team with instant performances on the pitch when he arrived in January, and the forwards met those expectations.
24/25 Premiership | who |
|---|---|
Appearance (start) | 10 (6) |
the goal | 4 |
I missed a big opportunity | 1 |
A big opportunity has been created | 3 |
assist | 2 |
The dribbling is complete | 10 |
Statistics via Sofascore | |
As you can see from the table above, the Portuguese starlet has already contributed to seven goals, creating a “big chance” combined with six premiership starts this year.
This shows that he provided the immediate impact he was expected to have, and given his proven quality at that level, he was an excellent signature for the hoop.
For all involved, bringing Jota back to the club was a great opportunity. There he knows he can become a star player.
Despite all this, the Celts are now linked to an interest in young talent that can get even better than Portuguese’s sense at Parkhead.
The latest on Celtic’s interest in Premier League starlets
According to football insiders, the Scottish giant is one of many clubs chasing the deal to sign Crystal Palace youth Jesse Delhi in the transfer window for the upcoming summer.
The report claims that both Celtic and Rangers are interested in the 17-year-old attacker’s dive, and teams across Europe are also in touch with players about the possibility of this summer.
After England Youth International turned down a professional contract to stay at Selhurst Park, the team says it is aware of his potential availability.
Football Insider added that PSG, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Atletico Madrid all sent scouts, adding that some Premier League teams have seen him active and are seeing his teenage sense.
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The outlet has made it clear that Delhi is open to moving abroad, whether it’s one of the European aspects or Scotland, but it’s still unclear where he will go next season.
It looks like there’s a lot of competition in the 17-year-old talent signing this summer. The Celts have to push to win the race of his services, as they could be even better than Jota.
Why is Jesse Delhi likely to be even better than Jota?
The current hoops appeared through the Benfica Academy, earning nine goals and eight assists in 47 matches for the B team, and four goals and eight assists in 17 games for the Youth League.
This shows that Portuguese dynamo enjoyed an impressive but not perfect career at the youth level before coming to Scotland to shine under post-coglow with around 10 goals and 10 assists per season in the premiership.
Delhi, son of former palace and QPR defender Shawn, has shown incredible promises at the palace youth level in recent years, making it seem like an even better outlook than Jota had made in Benfica.
According to football insiders, the teenage ace has scored 20 goals in 27 appearances in all Eagles competitions at the youth level in their current campaign, including nine goals in eight Under-18 Premier League matches.
As you can see in one clip of the 20 goals above, Delhi is similar to Jota. Jota is similar to the left wing who likes to cut his right foot and find farther corners.
The palace youth who U23 scout Antonio Mango, who insisted on “tearing things” at the youth level, also scored 11 goals in 17 matches in the 2023/24 campaign, providing four assists.
This means that England Under-19 International have scored 31 goals in 44 games for Palace since its start last season. This is a much better youth record compared to what Jota did at the Benfica academy while playing in the same position.
So this suggests that Delhi, reportedly seen in some of Europe’s biggest clubs, could even be better than left-wing Jota by providing an incredible scoring threat with cutting his right foot.
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So Celtic has to push to sign a teenage starlet in the summer. Because if he becomes a special long-term addition to the team and translates his academy form into senior football and is better than Jota, he could potentially appear as a winger for the first time in the future to appear as a team star.