Former Celtic winger Jota has been excluded from Al-Ittihad's squad for the Saudi Pro League, according to reports.

The Portuguese star has suffered a nightmare start to life in Saudi with game time limited and now manager Nuno Espirito Santo has decided to cut Jota from his league squad.

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Clubs in Saudi Arabia are only allowed to register eight foreign players in their squad each season and the arrival of defender Luis Felipe from Real Betis takes that number at Al-Ittihad to nine.

As a result it has now been reported in Saudi that Jota and goalkeeper Marcelo Grohe could be dropped from the squad list.

However, the pair will still be eligible to play in the AFC Champions League and Club World Cup.

With this in mind, Jota may look for a transfer out of Al-Ittihad to secure game time elsewhere. 

Turkish giants Fenerbache have been linked, but a deal would need to be completed in quick time with the Turkish transfer window set to close later this evening.

Celtic banked in the region of £25million in the transfer of Jota with Benfica due to a cut through a sell-on clause.