Celtic had to hand over €7.6m (£6.5m) to Benfica as part of Jota’s move to Al-Ittihad, according to A Bola.
The Portuguese tabloid claims that the Liga Portugal champions were owed 30% of any future sale, and when the winger finalised his €29m (£25m) exit from Celtic Park, they were given their share of the fee.
Considering that the Scottish champions paid around €7.5m to make Jota’s move to Scotland permanent anyway, it means that the Hoops’ profit from the transfer was around £14m.
That is still a sizeable figure, especially when you factor in that Rangers only recouped just over £11m in total from player sales this summer.
Celtic have brought in multiple replacements for the money they received
Following Jota’s move to Saudi Arabia, Brendan Rodgers’ side have signed no less than three wingers to make up for his departure.
Marco Tilio was snapped up from Melbourne City for £1.5m but the Australian has not made his debut so far due to injury problems.
Yang Hyun-jun also arrived from Gangwon FC for £2.1m, while Luis Palma was signed from Aris Thessaloniki for around £4.3m just before the transfer window closed earlier this month.
Jota has had his problems since leaving Celtic
Despite only joining Al-Ittihad at the start of July, rumours have been circulating for a number of weeks that the Saudi Arabian club are already looking to dispense with Jota’s services.
The main reason for that is down to the limited number of foreign players they can have. Only 8 are allowed so there have been suggestions that Jota could be sacrificed.
The 24-year-old did come on as a substitute against Al Hilal in a 4-3 defeat last week so he appears to be in the club’s plans for now. With Saudi Arabia’s transfer window having just closed, he is likely to remain where he is until the New Year at least.
