Brendan Rodgers is set to secure his third signing of the summer transfer window in Paulo Bernardo.
The midfielder spent last season out on loan at Parkhead from Portuguese giants Benfica, where he made a positive impression boss Rodgers and the Hoops support. Following a contribution to the Premiership and Scottish Cup double-winning team of last campaign, Celtic have sought to bring him back permanently.
It’s been an ongoing situation but now Mais Futebol claim “Benfica have finally completed the transfer of Paulo Bernardo to Celtic.” The deal is done as per the report at a fee of around €3m (£2.5m) and he will sign a five-year contract. Goalkeepers Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo have already made moves to the Scottish champions this summer.
The move should become official when the player signs all the contract formalities. Rodgers said of the midfielder this week: “There’s nothing new to add, clearly there’s lots of work going on behind the scenes but until there’s any confirmation on it we’ll let you know.
“I’ll make it clear to the Celtic supporters we want to improve, get better. We don’t want to stand still this season, we know we want to improve the squad and by the end of the window shutting I’d expect us to be that.
“Until that moment there’s a lot of great work going on here with the players, some of the younger players are developing really well. The other players are really tuned into how we’re working and are having a good pre-season which is a good starting point for the season ahead.”
