Jota has thrown his career in the bin and Celtic star will become a forgotten man – Chris Sutton

There’s a scene that keeps coming back into my head right now. It’s of Jota scoring a superb free kick against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu and celebrating like he’d just won the World Cup.

I found the reaction pretty embarrassing given the fact Celtic were 5-0 down at the time but afterwards he talked about how special a moment it was for him producing a moment of magic like that in the Champions League against one of the greats.

He should have had the head down while jogging back to the centre circle with the minimum of fuss. The point is, Jota seemed to be piling it because of where it was and the stage it was on. But if this deal to Al-Ittihad goes through he’d be throwing all prospect of more of that kind of experience straight into the bin. Remember that Brendan Rodgers banner about trading immortality for mediocrity? Jota will be trading his career at the top level for money. Simple as that.

Let’s not sugar coat it here. If he moves to Saudi Arabia, spare us any talk it’s for footballing reasons. It will be for cold hard cash. Nothing more. Listen, I get how his head could be turned. The numbers being quoted are unbelievable, with talk of up to £10million a year.

It’s a heck of a lot of money – but at what cost? Jota is 24 years old and not even in his prime yet. It was a similar story with Ruben Neves leaving Wolves for the Gulf State at 26. These guys are going into semi-retirement before they have even made a proper impact at the top level. It’s such a waste.

I know people are going to say Scottish football isn’t exactly the best league in the world but it’s still got history, heritage and it gives a platform to play in the Champions League. People might point to me moving to Scotland. That was completely