As the Celtic chatter surrounding Paulo Bernardo’s return to Paradise continues, it seems that Benfica still has the midfielder in their plans.
For the moment at least, anyway. Paulo Bernardo has been the subject of a lot of speculation after having such a great season on loan at Celtic last season.
The Portuguese was pivotal for the last half of the season where he was virtually undroppable in Brendan Rodgers’ pursuit of the Scottish Premiership title.
With a fee of around £3.5m said to be agreed for the youngster, it now seems like it will be just a matter of time before he joins Rodgers and Celtic in the Summer Tour of the USA.
But it seems that Benfica are still keeping Bernardo very much part of their pre-season plans this summer.
Paulo Bernardo and pre-season at Benfica
The Portuguese giants released a video on Instagram and it showed the former Celtic loanee being put through his paces during pre-season training.
Benfica also posted pictures of Bernardo hard at work as they put the midfielder to work despite much of the speculation suggesting he is set to return to Celtic.
The young midfielder was a likeable character in the Parkhead dressing room and it seems that his return would be welcomed by the Celtic squad.
Benfica have been actively strengthening that part of their squad this summer so the assumption would be that Bernardo’s departure to Celtic must be imminent.
However, with Celtic already in the States and Bernardo still taking in a pre-season at The Eagles, it does seem like the Parkhead support may have to wait a wee while yet before they see the midfielder holding the green and white scarf above his head at Celtic Park.
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