'More mature' Jota says 'Celtic feels like home'

Jota believes he has returned to Celtic a "more mature" person having overcome "some difficulties" with Al-Ittihad then Rennes.

The 25-year-old Portuguese winger has signed a five-and-a-half-year contract as former Celtic team-mate Kyogo Furuhashi moved in the opposite direction to the Ligue 1 strugglers.

Jota had moved to Saudi Arabia only 18 months ago in a reported £25m transfer but found game time limited with Al-Ittihad, who had signed more than their allocated number of foreign players, then after last summer's switch to France.

"I'm buzzing," he said. "It feels like home and, for me, that's something that I was aiming for. Going to Lennoxtown and training, it just felt like nostalgic, but it felt like I've never left.

"But the last year and a half felt like 10 years."

Jota pointed out that "I didn't have a lot of opportunities to play" in recent months.

"Obviously physically it's not my best moment, but that will come quickly with minutes, game time, training and I just can't wait for it," he said.

"It's choices that you make and you have to live with them and you have to go through them. So I've learned a lot of stuff.

"I've known myself in different ways and I think that's all positive because I'm much more mature."

Jota revealed that he thought he would return to Celtic one day but was not expecting it so quickly.

"It's only when you leave that then you can look back and see I had that," he added.