Jota's shock transfer could see Saudi Arabia splashing out £25million for the Celtic star, Record Sport understands.
The Portuguese winger is the subject of serious interest from big-spending Al-Ittihad and looks set to team up with former Real Madrid star Karim Benzema and ex-Chelsea engine room enforcer N'Golo Kante in the Gulf State. A recent cash injection from the PIF has seen Saudi Pro League club drop eye-watering amounts of money on some of the biggest names in Europe as the Middle East nation looks to muscle in on football at the elite level.
Record Sport believes the champions will rake in far in excess of what they paid to land the player they signed permanently last summer after a successful season-long loan from Benfica, which was £6.5m. Celtic are remaining tight lipped about the situation, and it's unclear whether champions have been approached by Al-Ittihad yet. Saudi clubs tend to do their business differently.
However, not all of the money would be ploughed into Brendan Rodgers' transfer warchest. As part of the agreement that took Jota from the Estadio Da Luz to Parkhead last summer, a 30 per cent sell-on fee was agreed with Benfica, who are also set to cash in on the deal.
Losing Jota will come as a big blow to Rodgers less than than a week into his second spell in charge of the Hoops. Marco Tilio is set to arrive any day now and can play across any of the front three positions, which would provide a replacement of sorts. However, the 21-year-old will be playing outside of his native Australia for the first time and will need time to adapt.
Koren attacking trio Yang Hyun-jun, Eom Ji-sung and Jeong Ho-yeon are also on the champions' tranfer radar and Jota's exit could see significant movement on that front. Hyun-jun is at loggerheads with his current club Gangwon over an apparent promise to let him move to Europe which the player claims has been reneged on.
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