‘I rate him as a footballer…’ Barry Ferguson shocked £3.5m Celtic star hardly plays

Add as preferred source on Google

Perhaps the strongest area of the pitch for Celtic is the middle of the park.

Going by this season, captain Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate, and summer signing Benjamin Nygren are the regular starters in midfield for Brendan Rodgers.

But there is a lot of quality on Celtic’s bench, including players the champions of Scotland have spent some serious money on.

Everyone’s attention usually turns to Celtic’s club-record transfer Arne Engels, but there is also the seemingly forgotten man, Paulo Bernardo.

• READ MORE: Meet Paulo Bernardo, the Celtic star who needs a strong 25/26 season

Paulo Bernardo’s lack of game time at Celtic

Over the weekend, Celtic drew 0-0 with Hibernian, and Rodgers made several changes to his XI, including starting Luke McCowan and Engels.

But Bernardo started on the bench to the ‘surprise’ of Barry Ferguson, who expressed his shock at the player’s situation.

Speaking on Go Radio, Ferguson explained that ‘I rate Bernardo as a footballer’, and he feels that the 23-year-old should be playing a lot more.

“In terms of Bernardo, I am surprised he hasn’t had more minutes,” said Ferguson. “But we don’t see him training day in and day out.

“I do think he is a very good player, and I am surprised. There were a few changes made (against Hibernian). Nygren not playing. Luke McCowan and Engels came in. Hatate was injured.

“You probably think he is one of the players that would come into the team, Bernardo. He hasn’t been used often this season, which certainly is a surprise to me, because I rate him as a footballer.”

How does Bernardo train at Celtic?

Bernardo first joined Celtic on a loan deal in 2023, but that was then made permanent 12 months later when the Hoops paid Benfica £3.5 million for his talents.

Celtic play Braga in the Europa League on Thursday night, and it’s pretty obvious, even with Hatate’s injury, that Bernardo won’t start, and probably won’t be first change off the bench.

Whilst supporters and pundits can only judge from what they see on the pitch, Ferguson also wanted to highlight what could be going on behind closed doors in training, because it could be very different.

“In terms of, if you do make signings and you do bring players in,” said Ferguson. “Listen, they have got to train properly. They have to show you that they should be playing.

“It’s not a case of you go and sign somebody for £4-5 million and they have a given right to play. You need to earn the right to play.

“We don’t see Bernardo day in and day out. We don’t know how he trains or how things are going. But what I will say is, every time I have seen him play, he certainly is a good player.”