Paulo Bernardo has a permanent Celtic move dangling in front of him – and has been challenged to reach out and grab it.
The on-loan Benfica midfielder has grown into a prominent starting role under Brendan Rodgers after a peripheral start to life at Parkhead. Dubbed as the man to step into Jota’s shoes as the new superstar from Portugal in Glasgow’s east end, he started just two of the first 18 league games. But after forcing his way into the team against Livingston, he started the final four before the winter break, scoring twice and picking up a brace of assists against St Mirren for good measure.
He’ll be a key man in the second part of the season and there is already clamour from fans to see him signed up permanently with Celtic holding an option to purchase him as part of the loan agreement. And that’s something Paul Lambert would like to see them trigger…if he can keep his form up.
Lambert told The Celtic Way: “The carrot being dangled in front of Bernardo now is that the next five months will determine whether he wins a permanent contract at Celtic or not. If he does well and both parties agree then he will sign the deal. If he doesn’t then Brendan will need to decide on what he wants to do with him.
“In the last few games, Bernardo has started to get going a bit but he has to sustain those levels from now until May.
“Whether you are a young player at Celtic coming through the ranks, or just a young player or an experienced player, the one thing that this club teaches you is that you have to win. You have to win at every level. If you don’t have that feeling of winning, you crave it. It is like a drug. You always need it. It gives you a great grounding.
“If you do happen to move on from Celtic to pastures new then players quickly find out that there are not many clubs like it. The demands that are placed on Celtic players are incredible. That feeling of having to win games is ever-present at Celtic. The fan base demands that you win football matches. The lessons you learn at Celtic stand you in good stead whenever you do leave the club.
“Even Bernardo will know by now that the mentality at Celtic is that you cannot even draw a match. That is a great thing. You have to be able to handle that as well as the crowd even when things are bad or else it will eat you up. It’s exactly that kind of attitude which should drive Bernardo on as he pursues a permanent contract with the club.”
Could Bernardo soon be joined by his Portuguese compatriot Tiago Araujo? The left-sided wing-back has been heavily linked with a move to Parkhead and has been tipped as an upgrade on Greg Taylor, with the added bonus of being able to play on the wing.
It seems Estoril Praha are in no rush to lose him as he’s started every league game for them this season. On Friday he was in the XI that faced Sporting CP, and was on the wrong end of a 5-1 thrashing. He went close to scoring early on but was hooked on 73 minutes as the scoreline threatened to get out of hand.
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