Former Scotland manager Alex McLeish has said that Jota’s return to fitness could help Celtic extend their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
The winger was taken off at half-time during the Hoops’ recent Scottish Premiership victory over St Johnstone.
He then missed the subsequent fixture at home to RB Leipzig with Sky Sports News later addressing his absence and revealing that the Portuguese was suffering from a muscle injury.
However, as relayed by the Daily Record Ange Postecoglou is expecting the 23-year-old to return to training at some stage this week.
McLeish sees it as a huge boost for the Bhoys and told Football Insider:
“Jota has really shown his quality in those European games.
“It’s those moments against Leipzig and Shakhtar. You could see it from the first game he played, you thought he was all about stepovers but he has so much more to his game.
“He has really established himself as a big player under Postecoglou and not having him there is a massive thing for Celtic.
“The confidence of just having a player of his quality on the pitch, it’s a wonderful thing. He has been very, very consistent at a really high level.
“If he’s back in a few weeks then that’s wonderful for Celtic, any longer than that and you start to grow concerned.
“For Celtic and their chances of pulling away from Rangers, Jota’s recovery is something to keep an eye on.”
TIF Thoughts on McLeish’s comments…
Is Jota Celtic's best player?Yes!
No!
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The £6.75m-rated gem has been directly involved in 37 goals in 52 appearances for the Glasgow giants since his original loan move last summer.
This season he has grabbed five goals and five assists in 12 matches with nine goal contributions in as many games in the Scottish Premiership.
With a 7.67 average match rating (SofaScore) in the league he has far and away Ange’s top performer and while he is unlikely to feature against Motherwell in the League Cup quarter-final on Wednesday evening, Jota could well be available for the trip to Hearts on Saturday lunchtime which would indeed be huge for the club.