Stephen McGowan’s latest Jota update will leave Celtic fans raging at Brendan Rodgers

As the speculation around Celtic signing Jota on a permanent deal reaches fever pitch, trusted journalist Stephen McGowan has revealed in The Daily Mail,  how the Hoops could have signed the young Portuguese winger for £200,000 before he signed on the dotted line for Benfica.

McGowan was speaking to former Celtic scout, David Moss, and he disclosed how Helena Costa, who worked for Celtic as a scout between 2008-2011 and on two other occasions in 2012 and 2013, first spotted Jota when she coached Benfica’s youth team and recommended that he be signed by the Glasgow giants when he was just 16 years old.

Moss said, ‘Helena Costa was a scout at Celtic for a long time and very good at her job.

‘She coached Jota at the Benfica academy from when he was eight or nine years old and she recommended him to Celtic when he was around 16.

‘I was scouting for the Celtic academy when she said to me: “David, you need to try and sign this winger before he signs a contract with Benfica.

‘I went over there a few times to watch him and met him and his parents.

‘For whatever reason, I just don’t think Celtic were in a position back then to go and spend £200k or whatever the fee would have been to take on a teenage player with no first-team experience.”

Six years ago we could have had Jota.

That takes us back to season 2016/17 when Brendan Rodgers would have been the Celtic gaffer.

And all the while when he was spending £3m+ on Eboue Kouassi, to not be able to find £200,000 for Jota is mind boggling.

However, he is here now and the Hoops fans will be waiting with baited breath for the Hoops to announce the permanent signing when the winter window opens in January.