Paulo Bernardo Celtic Latest; Stumbling Block Reached

Celtic begin their pre-season towards the end of this week, but the club are yet to truly kickstart their summer transfer Business.

No arrivals or departures have been announced, but reports remain rife about potential targets.

Young English striker Ajay Matthews was recently linked with the Hoops, and several goalkeepers have been named as potential Joe Hart replacements.

As well as bringing in fresh blood, retaining key contributors towards last season’s success is key. Loanees Adam Idah and Paulo Bernardo were impressive during their respective loan spells, but a move for the latter appears more realistic than one for Idah.

Despite this, reports from Portugal, as cited by RecordSport, state that Bernardo himself is making a potential transfer difficult.

It is said that the midfielder wants a similar wage at Celtic to the one he is on in Portugal, but the Scottish champions are not willing to meet such a demand.

The 22-year-old signed a bumper deal when he was a teenager and on a similar trajectory to some big Benfica talents such as Joao Felix, who just spent the season at Barcelona.

The Portuguese youth international is on a substantial salary and is said to be unwilling to agree to what he is being offered by Celtic. The deal book, though, is not yet closed with negotiations pressing on.

Bernardo is a high-potential player who has the quality to regularly contribute to the first team.

Signing him permanently makes sense, but it remains to be seen if any move will come to fruition.