A major claim has been made on Celtic's transfer plans, regarding Portuguese attacker Jota's future at Parkhead...

What's the talk?

According to journalist Pedro Almeida, the Hoops will sign the forward on a permanent deal from Benfica, with the winger currently on loan from the Liga NOS giants.

He has claimed that they will pay €7.5m, roughly £6.3m, to complete the signing, Tweeting: "Celtic will advance to the definitive signing of #Jota from Benfica for 7.5M€."

Buzzing

Celtic fans will surely be buzzing by this update as Jota has been in terrific form since arriving at the club and keeping him at Parkhead in the long term could be a huge boost for Ange Postecoglou.

The attacker has racked up an impressive 12 direct goal contributions in 15 games for Celtic, with six goals and six assists. This includes four goals and four assists in eight Premiership appearances, showing his ability to both score and create goals for the side.

Postecoglou admitted earlier this season that he wants to keep the Portuguese attacker at the club in the long term and claimed that the player is loving life in Glasgow. He said:

“He hasn’t had the easiest start to his career, he was out on loan last year and it didn’t work out for him. I think he’s loving life here and my job is to make him the best possible player he can be.

“If he feels that this is the place for his future we’d be more than happy to keep him here but he’s got a pretty good head on his shoulders and he knows that the best way forward for him is to keep playing his football and the rest will take care of itself.”

At the age of 22, he also has the potential to develop further and grow as a player. This means that Postecoglou could improve him over the course of the coming years and potentially turn him into an asset worth far more than £6.3m to the club in the future.

Therefore, with his current contributions and his potential to increase his value, fans will be buzzing to see him stay at Celtic on a permanent deal. If he is able to maintain his current form and build on it, the money eventually paid could soon be seen as a bargain for the club.

AND in other news, Bitton 2.0: Ange could find Celtic's new midfield beast in 20 y/o who's "like Petrov"...