Glasgow, Jul 1 (IANS): Celtic FC have announced the permanent signing of Portuguese star Jota on a five-year-deal from Benfica.

Celtic had been waiting for the player to arrive back from holiday to finalise personal terms and Jota was at Celtic Park on Thursday to commit his future to the Scottish champions. The 23-year-old had already told Benfica he wished to remain at Celtic after initially joining on loan in the summer.

The winger enjoyed an impressive first season at Celtic, scoring 13 goals and providing 14 assists in 40 appearances to help the club win the Scottish Premiership title and League Cup in manager Ange Postecoglou's first season in charge.

The Portuguese star previously revealed he had "fell in love" with the Hoops and has now finalised his switch for £6.3 million-plus a sell-on clause to become Celtic's fourth signing of the summer.

Speaking exclusively to Celtic TV after signing a permanent deal with the club, Jota said, "I'm feeling great. It's a tremendous step in my career. I'm really happy to have joined Celtic and I just want to give some joy to the fans, to our team and conquer as many things as we can."

"With the season that we had with all the winning and all the trophies, I think it was very good for everyone, and I just got to know the club from another perspective, and I just fell in love. So I think it's a good time to be here and I just want to develop."

From the moment he made his debut last September in a home win over Ross County, Jota became a fans' favourite, and he scored some crucial goals in the campaign, including match-winning goals in two games against Aberdeen and a strike in the final Glasgow derby of last season.