It was never going to be easy.

And maybe we’ve yet to find the solution.

But on recent showing Luis Palma looks as close as Celtic have come to replacing the mercurial talents of Portuguese star Jota following his summer departure to Saudi Arabia.

In two memorable years at Celtic Park the winger lit up the stage on numerous occasion with his passion, his energy and his array of skills.

He was also very notably a scorer of ‘big goals’.

Cup Semi Finals, Finals, Champions League, Europa League.

You name it, Jota pretty much done it all during his time in Glasgow.

He also lifted no less than five trophies in green and white, so to say Palma has work on his hands to emulate that would be an understatement.

PALMA’S JOURNEY

Its early days in the 23 year old’s Glasgow adventure, but as with all journeys, you’ve got to start somewhere.

And based on his returns across five Celtic appearances so far the Honduran has at least shown that he’s willing to compete for Jota’s vacated title.

Saturday’s strike against Kilmarnock was his second goal in back to back league games in the Hoops, following his late goal against Motherwell the week before.

And were it not for a (rightly) disallowed goal against Lazio last Wednesday night he’d be three for three.

At this moment in time however – whether starting games, or coming off the bench – making this kind of impact is all Palma can do as he looks to make his name in Glasgow.

To date he has just two starts for Brendan Rodgers’ side, but his influence over the last three games has surely now propelled him to first choice alongside Kyogo and Daizen Maeda across Celtic’s frontline.

Yang will have something to say about that, as will Marco Tilio whenever he’s fit enough to make his Celtic debut, but for now it’s the man in the iconic No.7 shirt who’s stepped to the fore.

Like many of his team-mates he now heads off on international duty as he looks to add to his six caps in a double header against Cuba in the coming days.

On current form you wouldn’t bet against him doing so, and on adding a couple of goals while he’s there.

Like Jota, Palma comes across as a confident young man on and off the pitch.

However, he’ll be hoping the similarities don’t end there as he targets the same success and adulation that came the way of the talented Portuguese during his sparkling spell in Glasgow.

Tune in to the latest episode of The Celtic Exchange Weekly as we discuss the Impact of Palma, Surprising Scales & Celtis And The City

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