Celtic’s Jota ruled out for up to nine months

With a cruciate ligament injury, Celtic winger Jota will be sidelined for six to nine months, according to manager Brendan Rodgers, who cited the need to “shone a light” on his team’s need to strengthen their forward line in the summer transfer market.

The 26-year-old injured his knee during Saturday’s 5-0 defeat of Dundee United, returning to the Scottish champions from Rennes in January.

As Celtic won their fourth consecutive Scottish Premiership title in the first half, Jota was taken off in the first half at Tannadice, leaving the Portuguese wide man on crutches.

He has also caused some minor damage to the Cruciate. He talks about it with a lot of optimism and conviction.

Jota impressed for the first time at Celtic, initially on loan from Benfica, but after being sold to Al-Ittihad in 2023, he lost interest with both the Saudi side and Rennes.

After returning to Glasgow, he has made 16 appearances, nine of which have been starts, but Rodgers claimed they had anticipated him to start playing after a “very strong pre-season” to “improve his level of fitness.”

He said, “Sadly, that has interrupted that side of it.” After moving away from here to Saudi, he has had a difficult couple of years, but I have to say that he is a very young, optimistic person and player, and that he will emerge stronger from this.

Kyogo Furuhashi, the top scorer before him, was sold to Rennes as Jota made a change in direction in January, and his injury makes it even more crucial to add to his forward line.

There is no denying that we will definitely have to enter the market, but that was always going to happen, Rodriguez continued. You constantly strive to improve your front line, but there is no denying that this news really shines a light on that field for us.