Celtic ended the season on a high after beating Rangers in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden yesterday afternoon.
And as the final whistle signalled the end of Brendan Rodgers’s first season back at the club with more silverware, the work doesn’t stop there.
No doubt Rodgers and his backroom team will take a well-earned break for a couple of weeks but the recruitment department won’t be stopping and there are important decisions to make.
Paulo Bernardo could cost as much as £6m
One of those decisions concerns the future of Paulo Bernardo. Portuguese media outlet Ojogo report that Celtic are in the midst of considering a €7.5m (£6.3m) move for the central midfielder.
The Portugal U21 captain was pivotal in carving out Adam Idah’s late winner against Rangers and it seems now the club are thinking about making his loan move permanent.
The report states, “Paulo Bernardo finalised his season on Saturday by winning the Scottish Cup with Celtic, a club that will now assess whether to activate the option to buy the 22-year-old midfielder on loan from Benfica to the Scots.” [translated by Deep L]
I would imagine any move is likely to depend on whether or not Matt O’Riley decides to extend his stay in Glasgow and ignore any media speculation about his future.
Bernardo had a relatively slow start to his Celtic loan spell. Used primarily for the Champions League campaign, the Portuguese found it difficult to stake a claim for a place in the team for the domestic campaign.
However, this season, Bernardo has made 32 appearances under Brendan Rodgers chipping in with important goals against Rangers, Dundee and Livingston in the league. [Transfermarkt]
Is Bernardo worth the option to buy valuation that Benfica inserted as part of the deal? At just 22, the on-loan Benfica man certainly has plenty of time to develop as a player so that Celtic could recoup more than they paid for him.
Whether he improves the overall quality that Celtic have right now is the question but Rodgers may well see this as a good investment for squad depth and future potential.