Celtic have been saluted by Benfica legend Diamantino - who claims he'd be the first one on the plane to thank them for turning Jota into a £25m player.
The Portuguese superstar left Celtic just a year after they triggered a £6.5m option to buy him from Benfica last summer. Al-Ittihad are paying a total of £25m for his services and Benfica will earn a share of the spoils having negotiated a 30 per cent sell-on clause as part of his permanent move to Parkhead.
Pundits such as Chris Sutton and Alan Brazil have criticised Jota for chasing the cash but it's a life-changing move that has left all parties satisfied with the offer on the table proving too rich for Celtic to say no. And Diamantino is delighted they have sold up as his old team, with whom he won 11 league titles as a player, firmly in the money.
He said: "It's an incredible deal and the people at Benfica must be absolutely delighted. They have just received a huge amount of money without moving a muscle! Millions of Euros have just landed in their coffers and they did nothing to get it!
"The move to Celtic did Jota a lot of good. If I was at Benfica now, I'd be getting on the first plane to Glasgow to thank Celtic sincerely. Celtic have to be praised for what they did for this player. He went from having no future at Benfica to being one of the best players in the Scottish league for two years. Benfica's business model for trading players is very impressive and very successful."
