Former Celtic striker turned pundit Frank McAvennie has claimed he’s been told Jota will make a sensational return to Celtic in January with his move to Saudis Arabia turning incredibly sour.

Talking about the job Maeda is doing on the wing, McAvennie let it be known he believes a return is on the cards

“Maeda is doing a wonderful job.” He told Football Insider.

“He is just up and down, defends and it does not matter whether it is the right or left side.

“But someone told me Jota is coming back in January.

“It would be nice to have him back because you know what you are getting with him but I do think Brendan will need to sit down with the powers that be and tell them that he needs to sign some players.”

While Frank’s comments are obviously noteworthy. We would like to caveat his information by specifying he is paid by Football Insider to talk about football, specifically Celtic and West Ham.

Also, from our own experience, there is nobody at Celtic who would be cavalier or willing to share that kind of information so far out. Celtic’s communication team is very careful about what they put out and when. The idea Frank is getting this information from a person who would truly know is questionable.

Jota has been frozen out in Saudi Arabia and is not part of the plans. While we’d personally love to have him back, we’ll not count our chickens just yet. The winger won’t be short of options.

Celtic are undefeated in the SPFL so far this season after grabbing a big win against Livingston on Saturday. The Hoops ran out 3-0 winners in a game where they played an hour of football with only ten men.