In the 50th minute at Dens Park on Sunday, the section of Celtic fans hunkered down in the main stand drew breath as Jota received the ball on the near touchline.

The Portuguese winger was well marshalled, but the supporters knew to expect something.

Jota swung a right boot to feint a pass to the overlapping Josip Juranovic, then dropped his shoulder inside as if to cut in, only to rapidly change direction and improbably squeeze down the touchline.

He played a one-two with Juranovic before picking out Kyogo Furuhashi to brilliantly hammer in Celtic's fourth goal. It was a scintillating team move, but Jota's individual skill was outrageous as he added an assist to his two goals.

It brings the Benfica loanee's tally to six goals and six assists in 14 games, and he left the Dens Park pitch to chants of "Celtic, sign him up". So is the player once described as the next Cristiano Ronaldo (inevitably given his skill and nationality) starting to deliver on his considerable potential?

Finding form

Jota now has six goals in his last 10 games for Celtic, with his two strikes at Dens adding to his long-range goal against Ferencvaros on Thursday.

The 22-year-old is quick, direct, and has bags of tricks. But not only that, he is genuinely two-footed, with tormented defenders left wondering which way he'll go.

It gives him a split-second advantage which when added to his pace, means he constantly gets in positions to have a shot or cross. In the Europa League, he had a run of being involved in 25 straight sequences of play which ended with a shot.

Early criticism of his start at Celtic was about his end product, but he showed good penalty-box instincts for both goals on Sunday, reacting quickly to get to the ball ahead of defenders to finish from close range.

Only Rangers' captain James Tavernier (eight) and Dundee's Paul McMullan (six) have more assists in the Premiership than Jota's four, and the Portuguese has played fewer games.
'He's loving life here'

Jota was tipped as one of the next big stars in Portuguese football, quite the claim given their wealth of talent.

He was joint top scorer - alongside Trincao, now of Wolves - as his country won the under-19 European Championships in 2018, scoring twice in the 4-3 final victory against Italy.

It backed up their under-17 title win, and Jota was hailed in his homeland as a key part of the country's next golden generation, with Real Madrid and Tottenham reportedly interested in his services. However, his obvious talent never fully translated to senior football.

Despite 34 first-team appearances at Benfica, he struggled to make a lasting impact and was loaned out to a struggling Real Valladolid in La Liga last term, where he scored twice in 18 appearances as his team was relegated.

An inauspicious start to his senior career meant Celtic were able to swoop in with a loan deal for this season, which manager Ange Postecoglou confirmed has an option to buy clause at the end of the campaign (reportedly for a fee of around £6.5m).

And it appears Jota is relishing the chance to kickstart his career in Glasgow, saying after the Ferencvaros win the team is starting to feel "like a real family".

The attacking philosophy Celtic are implementing under Postecoglou seems the perfect environment for the winger to showcase the best of himself on a regular basis, alongside the brilliant Kyogo and talented Liel Abada.

"He's a young man who knows he's got a hell of a lot of talent," Postecoglou told BBC Scotland.

"But he also knows he needs the right environment to do that. He hasn't had an easy start to his career. He was out on loan last year and it didn't work out for him.

"He's loving life here. My job is to make him the best possible player he can be. If he feels this is the place for his future we'd be more than happy to keep him here.

"He's got a good head on his shoulders so he knows the best thing for him is to just keep playing his football and the rest of it will take care of itself."
'He's played exceptionally' - analysis

Former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound

You put people out on loan to get them game time, motivation and build confidence. He's a young man and that's what he's doing in this Celtic team. This side suits the way he wants to play, and he's developing.

I still think the decision [to sign him] needs to be made later on when you see him over the course of a season - before spending that sort of money. But so far he's played exceptionally well so far.