Former Celtic winger Jota could finally be set to end his Al-Ittihad nightmare with the Portuguese attacker linked with a January loan move.

The 24-year-old has hardly featured for his Saudi outfit since making the switch from Glasgow in the summer and that is partly down to league rulings in the country.

Saudi Pro League rules state that clubs can only have eight foreign players in their squad and ultimately Jota never made the cut with the likes of Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante also joining the club.

Al-Ittihad are currently undergoing a management change with axed Nuno Espirito Santo set to be replaced by Marcelo Gallardo.

Saudi outfit So3ody Sports now report that Gallardo will allow Jota to leave the club on loan in January and they also state that Premier League outfit Newcastle are keen to bring him to St James' Park.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) who currently owns the Magpies are also major shareholders in Ittihad. That means Eddie Howe could land Jota in January with the player placed on a transfer shortlist.

Meanwhile, Matt O’Riley believes Celtic need to use Kyogo Furuhashi even more under the leadership of Brendan Rodgers.

He said: “Me and him have a really good relationship on the pitch and I think probably 70 percent of the assists I have for Celtic have been for him, and that shows how good he is to play with, and how easy is to play with him.

“His movement’s top class. I actually think we need to use his runs a little bit more because his movement’s so good.

“He deserves the ball to be given to him because he works hard to create the space for himself. We need to keep utilising him because he’s our best goalscorer and that would be helpful going forwards.”