Former Celtic hero Jota isn't 'suitable' to play for his club in Saudi Arabia according to a legend of the club, as he prepares to leave on loan already.
The 24-year-old Portuguese winger cost Al Ittihad £25 million last month when they completed a shock move for the popular Hoops star.
However, the ruthless Saudis appear to have already decided the former Benfica ace is not up to the standard required by Nuno Espírito Santo's side, who also boast the likes of Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante in their team.
Jota has only been a sub for the opening two Saudi League games and multiple reports in the Gulf country have stated he will find out his next destination on loan this week.
And Al Ittihad legend Mohammed Noor - who won 90 caps and played in two World Cups while with the club - believes it will be the right decision.
He said: "It has been clear through recent matches that Jota is not suitable to play for the club.
"Acknowledging this and making the change now is much better than continuing with him during the whole season and failing later.
"I think the management of Al Ittihad deserves a lot of credit for having the courage to make this decision."
Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers admitted his Celtic side lacked quality in their shock 1-0 Viaplay Cup defeat to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
Marley Watkins converted a Danny Armstrong pass in the 59th minute of a pulsating last-16 tie to send Derek McInnes’ side into the quarter-finals where they will host Hearts.
It was a first defeat for Rodgers in cup competitions in Scotland in 25 games and put the holders out.
The Celtic boss said: “We are very disappointed and it was certainly nowhere near the level that we need to be at to win the game.
“Kilmarnock showed their resilience and took their chance when it came.
“We were a bit more progressive when Kilmarnock got the goal and we started to be a threat.
“I thought Yang (Hyun-jun) coming into the game looked very well and he gave us that ability to take people on in a one-v-one but other than that we lacked quality in the game and it’s so disappointing.
“We were just not at the level in terms of performance.
“It is a tough place to come, of course, but we need to show more and we need to have a greater physicality in the game and then when you have won that battle you need to play with more quality and we didn’t play with that.”
