Celtic are reported to be looking to sign Paolo Bernardo on loan from Benfica.
Last season the midfielder started just nine matches on loan at Paços Ferreira who were relegated from the First Division.
With the Benfica connection there are bound to be comparisons with Jota with Bernardo having an impressive record of five goals in 16 appearances for the Portuguese u-21 side.
Record of Portugal reports:
Celtic are looking to sign Paulo Bernardo on loan. The midfielder is not part of Benfica’s plans for this season and is awaiting placement. This is a dossier that the responsible incarnates intend to solve in the last days of the market.
Released by Jorge Jesus in 2021/22, 21-year-old Paulo Bernardo was loaned to Paços de Ferreira last January. He was integrated into pre-season, but without even a minute of use, it was clear he didn’t count for Roger Schmidt.
The Portuguese international has a contract with Benfica until 2027.
With just three full days left in the transfer window it looks increasingly likely that Celtic will be turning to the loan market to get deals over the line.
The deals to sign Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke took about one week to be completed between news emerging of interest and the transfers to be completed. The move for Luis Palma seems to be following a similar timeline.
With the lure of Champions League football and the example of Jota it shouldn’t be too much of a hard sell to convince Bernardo to move to Celtic on loan.
CLICK HERE for Bernado’s Transfermarkt profile.
What a state to be in 2 days before the window closes.
Utter incompetence from Lawwell senior and junior. A pair of clown shoes that should be chased.
Incredible that Celtic are scrambling about this late in the transfer window and still being linked only with projects. I don’t think they have shown interest in any first-teamm ready player of quality. It’s an absolute disgrace and it will end in tears for the team this year, no question about that. Heads should roll, starting with the Lawwells.
OK 2 things about this .. firstly Paços were in the first division last season and were relegated, hence they are in the second this season. secondly he did reasonably well from january , scored a cracker versus (if memory serves Casa Pia) however he was in a terrible team, he is a creative midfielder which probably wasnt the type that Paços needed at the time. Would be a reasonable shout, however if memory serves we were linked with him last season and that didn´t happen. I would imagine that its a loan only as if memory serves he has a 30/40 million euro release clause (its standard for Benfica to put release clauses in contracts) so wouldn´t imagine that it would have a buy out clause of less than maybe 10 million ?? Or maybe a Jota type deal where we have 70% and they get 30% of any future sale ? Whether he is the type of player we need is another matter.
The CL will be the test of how far we have progressed since last year. Money doesn’t guarantee success but signing experience usually helps. Will there be any accountability on those running the club (badly) or will it be back to the temporary railings outside the ground again if things go to sh#t?! Hope all the £1-2m signings we have accrued prove me wrong, are all world beaters and give the Barca’s and Real’s a good scare… ??
What an underwhelming target!
Progress in Europe?!
PL and the Board are taking the p!ss – yet again. 🙁
Bring in this guy on a 6 month loan and sell Hatate for £15m
Cert
mcgregor a fantastic servant to celtic has been left down by the club , rodgers and the liewells in particular , he was promised a scott brown type player to protect him from the referees and players like loonstrum of sevco who has free pass to cripple any celtic player , if loonstrum is on the team sheet for sunday we all know why , despite the sevco mob calling for his head , he will hatchet our midfield , rodgers need to flag this now because the liewells will not protect our players , or even voice their opinions on their mistreatment , cowardy shower !!
Not an easy task to tempt players from clubs like Benfica (The biggest reigstered support in the world) great weather, some decent competitions with Benfica – Sporting – Porto – Braga etc to come to Scotland.
No-one had any expectations of Jota, but he quickly won over the fans and proved himself worthy in Europe. I have high hopes we can pull another in this lad, Sounds exactly what we need, I am sure he will have options but hopefully the success of Jota will inspire him to follow in his footsteps.