CELTIC CONFIDENTIAL: The former favourite who WON'T be coming back to Parkhead, and the faithful defender set to head out in search of first-team football

Speculation over an emotional Celtic return for the club’s former winger Jota should be discounted.

The Portuguese fans’ favourite swapped Glasgow for the riches of Saudi Arabia when he moved to the Middle East in a £25million deal in July 2023.

After helping Celtic win five of the six domestic trophies he contested under Ange Postecoglou, the former Benfica starlet posted a gushing message to the club’s fans on his departure.

‘You guys found a way of loving me more than my previous girlfriends,’ he said on Instagram. ‘And I guarantee you that we were crazy in love.

‘For what it matters, I think I’ve loved you more than them so, believe me, I love you for life.’

After ending an unfulfilling 18 months at Al-Ittihad, the 25-year-old moved to French club Rennes last summer, where he has made only nine appearances. His last game under hardline coach Jorge Sampaoli came on December 15 in a 2-0 win over Angers.

And, with Celtic in the market for a left winger, supporters have speculated over the chances of the two sides giving it another go.

But, despite talks progressing with another former favourite in the shape of full-back Kieran Tierney, Mail Sport understands Celtic are focusing on other targets and that Jota feels he has done his time in Scottish football. 

This is one love affair which looks to be over.

Loan move prompts B-list player promotion 

Stephen Welsh is in Belgium to complete a loan move to Pro League club KV Mechelen in search of first-team football.

Under contract until 2027, the Scotland Under-21 international has played just twice for Celtic this season, once in the Premiership and once in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final win over Falkirk.

And the knock-on effect of the defender’s departure will be a promotion to Brendan Rodgers’ Champions League squad for 21-year-old central defender Dane Murray.

Article 45 of UEFA rules covers squad registration and details that Celtic’s European squad must consist of ‘List A’ and ‘List B’ players.

List A can be a maximum number of 25 and eight of those slots must be reserved for ‘locally trained players’.

Welsh’s exit now creates a vacancy for a homegrown talent, with Murray set to claim the berth after his loan spell at Championship side Queen’s Park was cut short.

‘We’ve brought Dane back for that purpose,’ confirmed Rodgers. ‘He’s a young player I really think highly of.

‘We sent him to Queen’s Park where he’s trained every day and been really well coached at a fantastic club. The whole idea then was to bring him back.

‘Stephen has been pretty much part of the fabric at this club for so many years — he’s one of the guys who helps create the culture.

‘But there also comes a time when they need to look at their own career. So there’s a possibility that he’ll go out on loan. It’s not confirmed yet.

‘But for him to go out and Dane to come back is quite an easy transition.’

Tilt at Swiss talent looking less and less likely 

Celtic look like being priced out of any January move for rising star Alvyn Sanches.

The Lausanne winger was heavily linked with Brendan Rodgers’ side in the summer after interest in LAFC’s Polish flyer Mateusz Bogusz cooled.

But the French-born player, who’s played for Switzerland at youth level, has hit a rich spell of form with his club, prompting interest from a string of big clubs across major leagues.

Leeds, Lazio, Newcastle and Fiorentina are now said to be interested in Sanches, with his parent club confident of getting a bidding war going for his signature.

With Lausanne confident of raking in upwards of £7m from any deal, Celtic are likely to look elsewhere.

Sanches has scored six goals and provided three assists in 18 matches this season for the side which currently sits third in the Swiss Super League.

Antwerp winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha is a more feasible target, with the Belgian club believed to be looking for around £5m for the 23-year-old.

Return of Celtic’s unfamiliar familiar face

BSC Young Boys’ Saidy Janko is on course to make his first appearance of the season in the Champions League against former club Celtic on January 22.

The full-back moved to Parkhead from Manchester United on a two-year deal when Ronny Deila was in charge in 2015.

He featured on the occasion of Brendan Rodgers’ first competitive match in 2016 — a humiliating 1-0 defeat at Lincoln Red Imps — and had a nightmare as Celtic squeezed through to the Champions League, despite losing 2-0 away to Hapoel Be’er-Sheva.

That dramatic night in Israel was Janko’s last appearance for the club. The former Old Trafford trainee moved to Barnsley on a year’s loan soon after with further spells at St Etienne, Porto, Nottingham Forest and Bochum.

He signed for Young Boys in 2023 and was a key part of the side which won the title last year.

Sidelined by a muscle injury so far this season, Janko hopes to make his return to action when his side face FC Winterthur when the Swiss league resumes a week on Saturday. If that goes well, next stop Parkhead.

Young Boys have yet to get a single point in the Champions League and sit bottom of the 36-team division. They are also struggling domestically in ninth place.

Despite already being eliminated, Janko — now 29 — will make the trip with a point to prove.

Maximum celebrations after Premier Sports Cup final 

Celtic players celebrated winning the Premier Sports Cup final by attending the World Darts’ Championship at the Alexandra Palace.

Agreeing to watch Luke Littler and co with team-mates Cameron Carter-Vickers, Liam Scales, Greg Taylor, Adam Idah and others, record signing Arne Engels admits the Celtic party were missing one key ingredient of the Ally Pally experience. A fancy dress costume.

While other fans dressed as Ronald McDonald, Donkey Kong, Eddie the Eagle and a penguin, the Parkhead players went as themselves.

Asked why they decided against a disguise to preserve their anonymity, Belgian international Engels admitted: ‘I asked myself the same thing. I also wanted to be dressed up, but no, we had not really a lot of time to do that. It was just a quick visit there and it was really nice to be there with the team, with the boys.’

Asked what he’d have gone as, the £11million signing kept his cards close to his chest.

‘I don’t know. I needed to see that in the costume shop.’

Brendan Rogers runs the rule over youngsters 

Contrary to popular opinion, the January transfer window isn’t just about identifying signing targets and working out how much should be spent on acquiring them.

Brendan Rodgers will use the weeks leading up to the deadline to look a little more closely at the players he already has and make a judgement on whether they should stay or go.

That could mean permanent departures from Celtic Park or it could mean weighing up what to do next with youngsters such as Johnny Kenny, who are not teenagers any more.

The 21-year-old striker has not played for Celtic since joining them from Sligo Rovers in 2022, but his form during two years on loan to Shamrock Rovers has been impressive.

As well as helping them to the league title, he scored seven goals in nine European games, which included strikes in the Champions League qualifiers and in the Conference League group stage.

That Rovers are through to the Conference League knockout playoff round, where they will play Norwegian side Molde, is thanks in no small way to the young Irishman.

His form on the big stage has been persuasive, which is why Kenny will be watched closely at Celtic’s Lennoxtown training base, to which he returned after the expiry of his loan last week.

Rodgers has already indicated that he wants to sign a left winger this month, as well as a young striker to back up Kyogo Furuhashi and Adam Idah. Daizen Maeda is versatile enough to provide another option through the middle.

All of which leaves Kenny with an opportunity in the days ahead. His job is to convince the Celtic manager that he has a third striker right under his nose, one that will not cost the club a penny.

Tense wait for Celtic-supporting McGinn 

The full extent of John McGinn’s hamstring injury is likely to be revealed later this week, amid fears that he could miss Aston Villa’s match against Celtic at the end of the month.

The Villa captain went off 19 minutes into his team’s 2-1 victory against Leicester City on Saturday, prompting his manager, Unai Emery, to predict an absence of between three to five weeks.

That could make McGinn touch and go for the Champions League game at Villa Park on January 29, when the Scotland midfielder is scheduled to play against the club he supported as a boy.

Grandson of former Celtic chairman Jack McGinn, the former St Mirren and Hibs player has already admitted being inundated with ticket requests from his family and friends.

He would add another dimension to what is already shaping up to be a fascinating Battle of Britain, but first he must recover from an injury that is similar to one that sidelined him earlier in the season.

Having had time to establish the seriousness of McGinn’s problem, Emery is likely to offer a little more detail ahead of Villa’s FA Cup tie at home to West Ham United this Friday.

Women’s side look to reap warm-weather rewards

While the pressures of international football and its increasingly congested calendar brought an end to the Scottish Premiership’s winter break, the women’s game has rather more room to breathe.

Elena Sadiku’s Celtic squad haven’t played since December 22 when they beat Spartans 5-0 in Edinburgh to finish the year fifth in the SWPL table, nine points behind leaders Glasgow City with two games in hand.

In an effort to take full advantage of the league’s three-week break, they have flown out to a warm-weather training camp, the aim of which is to prepare themselves properly for the second half of the season.

On Monday, Celtic headed to Gran Canaria, having benefited from previous trips to that part of the world. There, they are scheduled to play Spanish side Femarguin before flying back to Glasgow later in the week.

All of which should help them when competitive action resumes with a home game against Partick Thistle on Sunday. That will be quickly followed by a visit from Aberdeen on Wednesday and a Sky Sports Cup semi-final against Rangers four days later.

How Brendan Rodgers must wish that his players had enjoyed a similar opportunity to recharge the batteries ahead of a punishing January schedule that includes the Premiership, the Scottish Cup and the Champions League.

Happy birthday to Sir Rod – Celtic home or away! 

When Sir Rod Stewart set about kicking off his 80th birthday celebrations with a family photo, there was never any doubt as to what the dress code would be.

The veteran rocker rarely misses an opportunity to underline his allegiance to Celtic, either by turning up at games or posting pictures of himself watching them in far-flung locations.

So with his big day fast approaching, Sir Rod kitted his family out in assorted Celtic strips and gathered them round for a photo that he has since posted on Instagram.

Wearing last season’s shirt, Sir Rod is pictured with his wife, Penny Lancaster, and some of their children, all of whom entered into the spirit of things with a range of retro tops, scarves and bunnets.

The Stewart clan were together on a trip to the British Virgin Islands, where they were counting down to January 10, when Sir Rod will enter his ninth decade.

It’s safe to assume that the occasion will be marked with a party to remember. Let’s just say he’s unlikely to be in Dingwall for Celtic’s match against Ross County the following day.