In mid-June, the summer transfer market opened for business, and Celtic took more than a month to finalize their first deal.
Viljami Sinisalo, a Finland international, moved permanently to Parkhead from Aston Villa on Tuesday in order to challenge for a starting position in goal for the upcoming campaign, according to Brendan Rodgers.
As the first player signed during the transfer window, the 22-year-old will aim to compete for a starting position in goal following Joe Hart’s retirement at the end of the previous campaign. But it appears like 37-year-old Kasper Schmeichel, who is expected to sign a contract that extends through the summer of 2025, will be his rival. The Scottish Premiership winners are also interested in strengthening their lineup higher up the field. Among the players they have been linked to are Norwich City center-forward Adam Idah, Middlesbrough midfielder Riley McGree, and Royal Antwerp striker Michel-Ange Balikwisha. But it appears that a central midfielder who is well-liked by the Hoops faithful will be Celtic’s first outfield addition of the summer transfer window.
Celtic and the master midfielder agree to a deal.
Journalist Anthony Joseph of Sky Sports claims that the Scottish powerhouses and Benfica have come to an agreement for the permanent signing of Paulo Bernardo.
After his loan stint at Parkhead during the 2023–2024 season, the reporter reports that the club has agreed to an initial fee of £3.5 million with the Portuguese team to sign him permanently.
The club has worked hard to bargain with Benfica for a lesser price, as evidenced by the fact that this is £3 million less expensive than the £6.5 million option they had to sign him as part of that loan deal.
Joseph notes that before a transaction can be formally approved by all parties, Celtic still needs to work out the add-ons with the Liga Portugal powerhouses and then come to a personal terms agreement with Bernardo.
However, the Sky Sports reporter does disclose that the 22-year-old maestro is “keen” to return to the Scottish team, indicating that the Hoops shouldn’t have a significant obstacle in the negotiations due to personal differences.
Thus, if they can finalize this transaction in the next few days, Bernardo looks to be the club’s first outfield acquisition of the transfer window, perhaps succeeding goalkeepers Sinisalo and Schmeichel.
For the Bhoys, this is a fascinating commercial venture following the former Portugal
The U21 international team displayed a lot of promise in the 2023–2024 campaign. Paulo Bernardo’s encouraging Celtic performance
Although the youthful midfielder did not quite live up to Rodgers’ expectations by being a consistent starter at Parkhead last season, he did show signs of promise. The Portuguese great only appeared in 22 Premiership games and made 11 starts for the Hoops, who won the league title for the third consecutive year.The £3.5 million player attracted attention with six direct goal contributions in just 11 division starts, as the table above illustrates. That’s more than one goal every other start on average.
But on average, he only produced one opportunity per game, and that’s something that may need to be strengthened if the midfield player hopes to become Aaron Rodgers’ go-to starter.
During his six group stage games in the Champions League, Bernardo further demonstrated his defensive prowess. He was in the top 7% of midfielders with 2.31 blocks per 90 and the top 15% with 1.44 interceptions per 90, indicating that the young player was willing to put his body on the line and had good game reading skills to cut out passes from the opposition.
These numbers indicate that he has the ability to develop into a versatile midfield player who can influence games both with and without the ball in the future, which is why this may be a great addition.