Hartson urges Celts to shell out £6.5m for Jota – before Euro big guns snap him him up
JOHN HARTSON reckons Celtic should get their skates on to shackle Jota for the longterm before one of Europe’s big guns step in and bag him from Benfica. The Hoops fans’ favourite has been blown away by the Portuguese ace since his summer loan switch and is already convinced his old club need to shell out the £6.5million buy-out clause to land him on a permanent deal.
It might not be so straightforward as Jota will need to green light any move as well – and Hartson believes the longer the season goes on the bigger the clubs who’ll be on the trail.
And he’s convinced at the current rate it could be mega sides such as PSG and Bayern Munich who are at the table unless Celts can get the handcuffs out as early as possible.
Jota has hit the ground running in Scotland with six goals and six assists in just 14 appearances.
He scored an outstanding goal in the 3-2 Europa League win against Ferencvaros and was at his devastating best against Dundee at the weekend as well.
Celtic fans chanted to sign him up and Hartson has joined the chorus.
He said: “You do it now. In January, you do it. He’s made a great impact and although Celtic have first refusal it doesn’t mean you get him over the line.
“They have an option to get him but his agent and Jota will have the decision whether it will be Celtic or not.
“You don’t want Jota to be on 20 goals by February and then a Bayern Munich come in and say to his agent, ‘We’ll give you £10m if you get him to us.’ “That could happen. A Bayern Munich or a PSG might come in and say, ‘We want this kid, he’s 22, he’s lit the place up at Celtic, he looks dynamite.’ “I’d recommend Celtic to do it as swiftly as they can because he is a very special player.”
It’s not just Jota who has got the Hartson seal of approval. The big Welshman is fully on board with the Ange Postecoglou revolution and has been thrilled by the attackers the Aussie coach has brought to the club.
Kyogo Furuhashi has been a smash hit with 12 goals in his account already and big John can even see shades of Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton in his link-up play with Jota.
He said: “Kyogo has been a brilliant signing, a brilliant find, and I think Ange has got his eye on that Japanese market. The club have to back him.
“His relationship with Jota is unique. It is very similar to something like Henrik and Stan (Petrov) or Chris and Henrik.
“That pair had 66 goals between them in the Treble-winning season. I have to remind Chris that Henrik got 53. He got 13!
“They were remarkable that first season under Martin O’Neill, winning the title in the fashion they did. He has just got that feeling about him, Kyogo, and Celtic have got that feeling about them with Jota, Liel Abada and him.”
Hartson doesn’t chuck names like Henrik around for nothing. And he’s definitely not trying to put Kyogo on a par with the Swedish legend just yet. No one is on Larsson’s level.
But Hartson thinks there is a hint of the Henrik about the Japanese ace. It might be the movement, the speed of thought, the lethal finishing, the unselfishness.
Hartson admitted Larsson got his Celtic side out of the brown stuff most weeks and Kyogo has got everything smelling like roses at the club right now.
The former Hoops star said: “Kyogo has a bit of everything, he’s a very special player.
“I would never put him in the same category as Henrik now because Henrik was the king. Henrik, 242 goals, 315 games.
“Brought us out of the s*** every week. A phenomenal player. Henrik was the best player, by a country mile, at Celtic in my time.
“So there is no comparison between the two and that’s no disrespect to Kyogo.
“But he has 12 goals already and some of those goals show you he is a world-class operator – his movement, his touch, his finishing.
“His goal at the weekend with his left foot that hit the post and went in, his goal against Ferencvaros when Jota played him through, his touch and decision-making to hit it first time inside, that was just world class.
“His movement is brilliant. Think about his goal over in Budapest last week. Average centre-forwards, when they get the chance, they hit that straight away.
“But he has the coolness and composure to shift it back on to his left foot before he just slots it in the back of the goal.
“And his weight of pass for Jota’s goal was remarkable.”
Kyogo’s relationship with Jota is similar to Henrik and Stan or Chris
JOHN HARTSON