Star signing announces departure from Al Ittihad just weeks after joining the Saudi Club

Jota has decided to leave Al Ittihad amidst reports of internal 'dressing room' conflicts.

Star signing announces departure from Al Ittihad just weeks after joining the Saudi Club

Jota signs for Al-Ittihad. (Source: Football Scotland)

João Pedro Neves Filipe, who goes by the name Jota, signed for Saudi club Al Ittihad from Celtic in July. However, just a month later, the player is set to leave the club! The 24-year-old secured a move to Saudi after a fantastic season in the Scottish league, scoring 15 goals in all competitions. He is following in the footsteps of French Internationals Benzema and Kante. Jota made the move from Celtic for a club-record fee of £25 million paid for a player.

However, following just a month and four outings for the team, the player is on his way out of the club, as per reports. Saudi journalist via Twitter/X handle @m_bukairy broke the news. There is no further information regarding the player’s decision to leave. Jota remains to be replaced by Celtic who are still on the lookout for a worthy replacement.

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The player spent two seasons at Celtic. He was initially on loan with the club till Celtic decided to trigger the player’s release clause of £6.5 million. To quote Brendan Rodgers, “We need top players, whatever age they may be,” he said. “We require quality, that’s for sure. Hopefully starting now till the end of the window we can build on the squad.”

Al Ittihad experiences first internal turmoil

Al-Ittihad are expected to defend their crown but are ongoing internal turmoil owing to market conditions and according to reports. The side currently sit first in the Saudi Pro League. The team has 2 wins in 2 and has a positive goal difference of 5. The team is yet to concede a goal. However, attempts to sign Saudi international Mohammed Al-Owais from Al-Hilal put the dressing room in conflict.

Al Ittihad players.
Al Ittihad players. (Souce: Sport)

The Saudi player will not fall into the foreign market, thereby opening up another slot for an international player. But for this to happen, Grohe had to leave and this was against the plans of head coach Espirito Santo. Reports suggest that the dressing room atmosphere remains tense, mainly due to the instability in the situation of foreign players. Romarinho has stepped up, asking to leave, as several other players are on the brink.

Al-Ittihad will strive to resolve all ongoing issues within the team as well as player-management issues before the window closes in September.

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