While Martin O’Neill’s absence from Celtic training yesterday was entirely expected, the presence of a familiar face on the Lennoxtown grass was not.
When Joao Pedro Neves Filipe — aka Jota — left Tannadice on crutches on April 26, 2025, his injury was a mere footnote on another title party.
While the grim prognosis of a cruciate ligament injury deepened the concern around the winger in the days which followed, even the most pessimistic outlook then put a return date around the new year.
As the weeks turned to months, though, the complications and the setbacks duly arrived. And when an entire season came and went without the player being seen, inevitably there came rumours of the worst imaginable news. That at just 27 years old, Jota could be finished.
But while that question was answered the moment Celtic’s media team posted a picture of the player getting back to business yesterday, another key one remains.
After missing 16 months of football and still requiring possibly another eight weeks of training before he could be considered as ready to return to the first-team, can he possibly be the same player that terrorised defences in his first spell in Glasgow?
Jota has been a firm favourite with Celtic supporters during his two spells at the club
The question was put to Shaun Maloney, someone who can relate to the torment of the Portuguese having himself sustained a crucial injury back in 2004. The answer was delivered without hesitation.
‘Yeah, definitely,’ he stated. ‘It might take a bit of time and hard work. He’s definitely putting in the hours.
‘He looks really strong. Yeah, he’s got every chance. The last couple of weeks have been really positive.
‘Cameron (Carter-Vickers) had a really bad injury. He was out for eight or nine months, but he had the full pre-season.
‘So, we’ll have to try and do something similar with Jota to give him the best chance that when he comes back, he’s the player that you have all watched numerous times. There’s absolutely no doubt that he can do it.’
Maloney can attest from bitter personal experience that the gruelling recovery is both physical and psychological. He’s viewed the moral support Celtic have given the player as being just as important as the skill of a surgeon and his scalpel.
‘Obviously, Brendan (Rodgers) and his staff picked up the start of that,’ he added. ‘The medical team are really important. As can happen in longer injuries, he’s got a really good connection with the physios.
‘They’re probably more important than us. I think constant communication with them has probably helped.
‘I think we’ve all been on Zooms with him when he’s been doing his rehab in Portugal. Fozzy (Mark Fotheringham) is the most positive guy in the world. He’s been really, really good with him.
‘But also Martin. Martin’s been really, really good with him in terms of constantly being in communication.
Jota has been out of action since April 2025 after picking up a horror injury at Tannadice
‘That’s all peripheral stuff. I think the main guys that he’s relied on is the physical and the medical team. The medical team and him have really been inseparable.
‘They have to take any sort of credit rather than us, every week or once a fortnight speaking to him. These guys have been in daily communication with him.’
It goes without saying that there’s a need to temper expectations of those supporters who worshipped the ground the player stood on when he first moved from Benfica in 2021.
This applies to both when Jota might return to the first team and what he’ll be capable of as he finds his feet. But yesterday was unquestionably a very good day for all concerned — the firmest indication yet that his return is now a matter of when and not if.
‘He’s had a really difficult time,’ Maloney reflected. ‘From our side, you have to just temper it slightly.
‘There is a fair bit to this. It’s one thing coming back to training this week with no contact. Then you have to become free in the next few weeks and build up that tolerance to it. We then have to create friendlies for him too.
‘By the time you see him on the pitch for the first team, there will have been a few hurdles to get over. Hallowe’en or November might not be a million miles away.
‘I would hope that it’s earlier for his sake, but I’m not really sure when it will be. Hopefully it will be quicker because he has accelerated in the last few weeks.
‘I think for Jota himself, I wouldn’t want to stop any sort of positivity because it has been that difficult for him. It’s just really slowly building him into training.
‘Today, he did every drill, but not every drill was contact. So, it worked out for him. He’s still going to be a good few weeks, not two or three. But it is really positive.
Shaun Maloney expects Celtic to do more transfer business over the coming weeks
‘I know it’s positive for the boy, it’s positive for us and obviously his support. I’ve never worked with him, but when I’ve watched him, he is very, very good.’
There’s no disputing that. The star player in the side which won two titles under Ange Postecoglou, Jota’s move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad may have brought in £25million, but it markedly diminished the quality of the side.
Had any other player been absent for so long, they would have been in danger of becoming a forgotten man. Not so a player blessed with such sublime ability.
While Celtic are pursuing a deal for Real Oviedo winger Haissem Hassan to strengthen the right flank, Jota’s likely availability in October is the main reason why they haven’t gone after a left-sided wide man.
‘When Jota comes back, it’s probably similar to the nine position,’ Maloney said. ‘You then have Jota, (Seb) Tounekti and (Hyung-jun) Yang who obviously played there in the last game. I really like Yang off the left. It’s really strong.
‘So, on that left side, when Jota’s fit, we’re really good. On the right side, it’s slightly different.
‘We need to replace the profile that the club lost in (Nicolas) Kuhn because when you’ve got that sort of left-footed winger (on the right), you can attack differently.’
Were Hassan to sign, it seems likely that Celtic would end their pursuit of Frosinone’s Fares Ghedjemis.
‘On that right side, I think if we get one in with a certain profile and we keep everyone, I think that might be enough,’ said Maloney.
‘I think the job that Yang did (previously), Tounekti can play off the right, we’ve got young (Sean) McArdle coming through, we’ve got James Forrest. I think we have to wait and see.’
