Paulo Bernardo leaves Celtic on loan. Here’s what it means for the club.

The club need midfielders in the door

Celtic midfielder Paulo Bernardo has left the club on a season long loan to join Polish runner ups Gornik Zabrze. The Portuguese midfielder will spend the campaign in Poland after finding game time extremely limited at Celtic Park the last couple of seasons. Speculation began to grow on Monday when Bernardo never made the squad for the league opener against Dundee.

The midfielder joined the club following a first season on loan in the hoops where he helped set up the winner for Adam Idah in the Scottish Cup Final. Then manager Rodgers clearly saw enough to make the former Portuguese u21 captains move permanent from Benfica.

The 24 year old will now hope to reestablish his career at the Polish side who have European football to look forward to this season. Paulo showed glimpses of his quality but never fully established himself as a first team pick during this his time at the club. Celtic have confirmed that Gornik Zabrze have an agreed option to buy should the loan spell go well. Bernardo’s exit is the latest in a long line of changes at the football club with 15 players already exited after the end of the last campaign.

What does this mean for Celtic

Celtic were already looking light in midfield before this exit. Not in numbers but in quality. The club will now need to ensure they have suitable reinforcements coming through the door ahead of the window closing in September. With Hatate and Engels possibly moving also, the midfield will need at least two quality additions to cope with the hectic schedule ahead. Whether Celtic manages to get all the business done that they require is another matter.

What do you think? Will Celtic manage to sign another couple of quality midfielders to help what’s already there? Will Engels and Hatate leave as expected?

All views expressed on Celtic DNA are personal opinions and are for commentary and discussion purposes only

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