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Club willing to send 21-year-old out on loan to Celtic, buy clause could be inserted

Patrick Sinat

Wed 30 August 2023 10:45, UK

Celtic have been linked with a move for Benfica midfielder Paulo Bernardo over the last 24 hours. That’s according to the

The Portuguese u21 international has been told that he has no future at Benfica and it seems that the club are willing to let him go out on loan.

Bernardo is contracted to The Eagles until 2027 but the Daily Record claims that they would be willing to look at a loan-to-buy deal with a more ‘reasonable’ fee to be negotiated at the end of any loan spell.

In a deal similar to what Celtic entered into with former fan favourite, Jota, the club could very well be tempted to take up that offer considering how successful the Portuguese winger was during his time in Paradise.

Who is Paulo Bernardo?

Bernardo is a central midfielder who can also operate in the Tom Rogic number 10 role. He has been capped by Portugal from u15 level right up until the u21s. He has 56 youth caps in total for the Portugual but is yet to make his full international debut.

He is a product of the Benfica youth system and signed his first professional contract with the club back in 2018 and was labelled one of the stars of the future. []

However, despite his long service with the club, he has only made 26 senior appearances with the majority of those from the bench. []

Bernardo was loaned out to Portuguese side Pacos de Ferreira where he made 13 appearances scoring two goals and creating two assists with his most important goal being the winner in the 2-1 away win to FC Vizela.

With Benfica willing to compromise on a deal to offload Bernardo, a loan-to-buy option does fit in with Celtic’s transfer model and could help make negotiations a little easier as the clock ticks down to transfer deadline day.

In other news, Bayern Munich are now interested in signing £4m Premier League star, after claims Celtic were keen