Ex-Rangers ace explains ‘no brainer’ exit as £25m star given damning fitness verdict after post Celtic move
Rangers’ Scott Wright was only one of several famous players that joined League One’s Birmingham City, who are hoping to get promoted. The last 24 hours of transfer activity in England’s second city were extremely hectic. The 27-year-old gave up the chance to compete in another title fight and the extra motivation of playing in the Europa League in order to move down to the third division of English football. After talking with the Blues owners, Wright thought it was time for a new challenge and even began a Champions League qualifier against Dynamo Kiev in early August. He called the move a “no brainer.” Wright, who played in 76 league games for the Light Blues, provided the following explanation in an interview with Birmingham Live: “I was getting game time at Rangers but I just felt like it was time for a new challenge for me. Once I had spoken to them it was a no brainer. Coming and being part of this project and this journey was something that really interested me.
“I signed on the Friday and it came up on Tuesday or Wednesday, so it really moved at a fast rate, but after having conversations with my family and my wife we thought it was going to be the right step for me.”
Wright enjoyed the dream debut by scoring a 91st minute winner against Wigan Athletic to extend Blues’ League One winning streak to three matches.
As it stands, the Blues are third in the League One table, level on 10 points with Wrexham and Stockport County as they target a return to the Championship after last season’s shock relegation.
Jota, the former Celtic hero, has returned to Europe following his summer transfer window move to French team Rennes. After spending £25 million to join Al-Ittihad last summer, the Portuguese playmaker, who finished his final season at Parkhead with 11 goals in 33 league games, only stayed in Saudi Arabia for one season. The team had too many foreign players to meet the league quota, thus the 25-year-old frequently battled to get playing time in the Middle East, especially during the first half of the season. He only participated in Asian Champions League and cup games in the first half of the season before registering for the second half and scored four goals in the league. But that wasn’t enough to ensure a future at the club and he wanted out regardless.
The player was signed by Rennes for a meager £8 million, much less than the winger’s transfer fee just a year prior. Jota’s manager, Julien Stéphan, hasn’t given him his debut yet and maintains that it would take some time for him to recover and be ready for the upcoming campaign. Through Football Scotland, he stated: “Jota will require labor.” Considering how disturbed his season was the previous year, it will likely take him several days or possibly weeks to get to his required physical state. He didn’t play much from September to March. He played in virtually no team practices over the final four weeks of the preseason. We’re going to have to gradually get his fitness back up and get his condition back to what it should be.”
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