Opinion: Should Celtic start preparing for life without 10-goal talent?

Celtic loan star Jota was pictured, the Daily Record reports, attending his parent club Benfica’s Champions League quarter-final second leg tie against Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday.

Jota has been one of Celtic’s most important players this season, the 23-year-old winger has scored 10 goals and 11 assists for the Bhoys, and he is one of the main reasons that the Hoops are top of the Premiership and looking good to win the league title.

Everyone will be aware of the player’s current situation, his loan deal expires at the end of the season, and at the moment there is no agreement in place for the transfer to become a permanent one.

Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou seems to be calm about the situation though, as he disclosed, as reported by the Scotsman, that ‘discussions are ongoing’ about any potential deal for Jota and fellow loan signing Cameron Carter-Vickers.

That might well be the case, but one wonders if Celtic are making plans for next season that don’t involve Jota? Perhaps that is reading too much into the player going to watch his parent club, but you have to think that Benfica will have been impressed with how the player has performed during his time in Glasgow.

Celtic will no doubt still try to get a deal done with Benfica and the player, but Jota might want to see if he can get in the Benfica first-team next season, as he has shown this season at Celtic that he is more than good enough to feature for the Portuguese side.

Jota probably won’t be thinking about his future at the moment, as he still has a lot of big games to play for Celtic during the rest of season 2021/22, and it is probably best to put any discussions about his future on the back burner until the end of the season, if that is possible.

Maybe