Celtic's pursuit of a permanent deal for Jota could be 'close to reaching completion', according to The Daily Record

The lowdown: Busy Hoops

Celtic have had a busy January transfer window so far, with four deals already completed.

Reo Hatate, Yosuke Ideguchi and Daizen Maeda have all arrived from the J1 League, while Johnny Kenny has joined from Irish outfit Sligo Rovers.

The Hoops are also lining up another new face in the form of Charlotte FC midfielder Riley McGree.

And on top of that, they're hoping to turn summer loan deals for Jota (who belongs to SL Benfica) and Cameron Carter-Vickers (a Tottenham Hotspur player) into permanent moves.

The latest

The Record's Craig Swan and Michael Gannon write that the club have been in talks with Benfica over a 'long-term agreement'.

And those discussions 'have progressed well', with Jota now described as being on the 'brink' of becoming a Celtic player.

It's thought that he will cost them around £6million, potentially ranking the deal as one of the ten biggest in their history.

The verdict

You could make the argument that tying down Jota would be Celtic's most important piece of January business so far.

The 22-year-old has proven that he can light up Scottish football, scoring five goals and providing four assists in his first 11 Premiership appearances.

Jota has also shone on the continental stage with four direct goal contributions in his five Europa League group stage outings.

Overall, only Kyogo Furuhashi (15) can boast more goal involvements, and he's played four more games.

Jota may only get better in the coming years too, and so there's also significant resale potential here if he keeps playing at the level he has this term.

Ange Postecoglou certainly can't complain about a lack of backing midway through the season, with the McGree (£2.3million) and Jota deals set to take their January spend to roughly £10.5million.

In other news, Celtic are willing to sell a fan favourite on the cheap.