Celtic have had numerous players who have excelled internationally under Ange Postecoglou’s stewardship.
The likes of Callum McGregor, Carl Starfelt, Daizen Maeda and Alistair Johnston regularly get call ups for their respective nations and it appears that winger Jota could be the next in line to represent his nation.
In 2022/23, the 24 year old has more than captured the imagination, scoring 14 goals and registering 11 assists across all competitions.
Such figures have caught the attention of many, including Portugal manager Roberto Martinez.
The Spaniard, who was appointed to the post at the beginning of this year, said that Jota’s traits are pivotal for the national team (The Scottish Sun):
“I think Jota is obviously a player who is very important for the national team in terms of the qualities he has. He is a player that has this natural knack of beating players in a one v one situation.
“What I would say is his evolution has been very impressive.”
For Portugal, Jota has never received a full senior call up.
This will certainly be among his over arching aims and Martinez said his European exploits have aided him in capturing his attention:
“The stats we have from Jota are very impressive, not just in the Scottish league but in the Champions League.
“When you’re looking at measuring a player in that natural gift of taking players on it’s very interesting to see it at different levels.”
It is fair to say it would be amazing for Celtic to have a player turning out for a national side as prodigious as Portugal and could be a major boost to Celtic’s selling point for young talented players.
This may well be possible in Jota’s case, Martinez saying:
“He’s got the potential for being in the national team, absolutely.”
Portugal’s next two matches are in June against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland.
Jota will have real aspirations of contributing in these fixtures and if he keeps up his current Celtic form, you never know what can happen.
