Celtic need to strengthen in three key areas before the summer transfer window closes on September 1.
The club must do everything to secure two new wingers, a quality striker, and another left-back if the Hoops reach the Champions League league phase.
Meanwhile, Celtic are strong in the central midfield area – there’s certainly no need for Brendan Rodgers to ask for more quality in that department.
Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren appear to be the manager’s first choice trio, while Luke McCowan and Arne Engels are just behind.
Further back is Portuguese midfielder Paulo Bernardo, who has played just 13 minutes out of a possible 270 so far this season. So why is that?
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Rodgers explains Bernardo’s Celtic situation
Bernardo is a talented player, but he can hardly get a look in. He played 44 games for Celtic last season, however only 19 of those were starts.
Rodgers was asked at his pre-Kairat Almaty press conference where he sees Bernardo fitting into a competitive midfield at the club.
The Celtic manager then effectively confirmed that Bernardo is his sixth choice central midfielder. He said: “Well it’s exactly that. It’s a very competitive squad in our back line and in the midfield area.
“He’s one of a number of good players that we have in there and sometimes how it works in football, the ones that aren’t playing, you get asked, and then it switches about.
“I think what we see in this early stage, and especially when there’s been one game a week, that the team sort of stays pretty similar.
“I obviously changed it against Falkirk knowing that we’ve got this game, knowing we’ve got a game Saturday and then a game on the Tuesday, so it’s quite tight, so I needed to make sure some of those players that might play those games are up to speed.
“But I think once you get then into Europe, you need every player. And Paulo’s a very talented player, and he’s one of a number of talented players in midfield.”
When is Bernardo contracted at Celtic until?
At the moment, the future doesn’t look overly bright for Bernardo at Celtic. He’s clearly behind five other players in the central midfield pecking order.
Bernardo hasn’t enjoyed great momentum heading into the new season. He was poor against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final, before being subbed off in every game of Portugal U21’s Euro 2025 campaign in June.
He’s now 23 and won’t play another game for Portugal U21, so his international future is under serious risk as well.
Bernardo is contracted at Parkhead until 2029, but he may well look to cut that deal short if he can’t earn regular starts this season under Rodgers.
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