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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Ex-Celtic ace Jota's Al-Ittihad transfer exit 'on hold'

Ex-Celtic star Jota's move to Turkey is reportedly off.

It emerged on Saturday that Fenerbahce had shown an interest in taking the winger on loan.

It comes as his future at Al-Ittihad already seems to be uncertain just two months after moving to the Middle East.

The 24-year-old moved from Celtic to the Saudi Pro League for a fee worth £25m in June.

His stint started well, but it soon turned into somewhat of a nightmare for the Portuguese attacker.

Jota has seemingly been frozen out of the picture by Nuno Espirito Santo after only a handful of appearances.

Al-Ittihad can only register eight foreign players in their first-team squad as per the Pro League's rules.

And so, Jota is likely to be left out of the squad, meaning he could not feature in any domestic games until Christmas.

A loan to Fenerbahce would have suited to allow him to go get game time, while Al-Ittihad would have him off their books for a spell.

However, multiple reports in the Middle East now say that the Turkish giants have withdrawn their interest in the player - and it could be after New Year that Jota plays in another competitive game.

It's claimed that the reason for Fener pulling their interest is down to the fact that Jota could not be registered in time to play in their Europa Conference League fixtures.

Also, head coach Ismail Kartail would prefer to keep former Bournemouth and Everton frontman Josh King than sign a new player.

The Turkish transfer deadline is not until September 15.

Meanwhile, Kelvin Wilson has urged Brendan Rodgers to bring Gary Hooper back to Celtic.

The former Hoops striker, 35, is currently a free agent and is on the hunt for a new club after recently playing his football in the UAE, Cyprus, New Zealand and India.

Hooper is now hoping to return to British football and Wilson believes his former club Celtic could do with the striker's experience in their squad.

Wilson told The Sun: “I know you look at Celtic, and the players they can bring in, but I wouldn’t be surprised with Gary."

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