PAULO BERNARDO will be Celtic’s next big-money departure following the £30million exit of Matt O’Riley.
The Portuguese playmaker cost £3.5million in the summer when the Hoops made his move to the champions permanent after his convincing season-long loan from Benfica.
However, former Hoops goal hero John Hartson reckons Bernardo could land the Parkhead club up to £20million if he moves on.
The Welsh international legend was massively impressed by the 22-year-old midfielder’s performance in the 3-0 rout of Philippe Clement’s side in the first derby encounter of the season.
WELCOME BACK…Brendan Rodgers greets Paulo Bernardo on his return to the champions.
Bernardo took the place of O’Riley in the team’s engine room alongside skipper Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate and excelled as the hosts led 2-0 at the interval before he made way for £11million record signing Arne Engels just after the hour mark.
McGregor added to the strikes from Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi to give Brendan Rodgers’ men their fourth successive Premiership win of the campaign.
Hartson said: “Brendan likes signing players he feels he can improve. Brendan’s brilliant on the training ground and he likes to work with them.
“You look at Bernardo now, who was absolutely terrific in the last game. He’ll probably be the next £15million or £20million player to go from Celtic. He’s that good.
“Matt O’Riley was £1.5million from MK Dons a couple of years ago, you’ve got Kieran Tierney coming through from the youth team, Moussa Dembele who cost £500,000 and they sold him for £20million.
“It’s remarkable, but it’s down to hard work from Brendan, his style and putting them in when they’re ready.”
Celtic spent £32million in the summer transfer window in bringing in Bernardo and Engels plus £9.5million Adam Idah, £6million Auston Trusty, £1million pair Luke McCowan and Viljama Sinisalo as well as loanee Alex Valle and Danish goalkeeping icon Kasper Schmeichel on a free at the end of his Anderlecht contract.
BIG HAND…Kasper Schmeichel acknowledges the Celtic fans after his derby debut triumph.
Hartson, speaking to STV, continued: “I thought they covered most of the areas. They got a left-back in, they got a centre-back in. A central midfielder and Adam Idah in attack.
“One of the best signings for me was Kasper Schmeichel to replace Joe Hart who was a fans’ favourite, great in the dressing room and really vociferous around the place.
“So, to get another world-class goalkeeper who has had a great career was a superb bit of business.”
The former Arsenal forward added: “They’re riding the crest of a wave at the minute. They’ve got momentum, they’ve had a really good window and they’ve got some terrific players now.
“They’ve got a real style and there’s a terrific buzz around Celtic.
“They’ve got Champions League to come now, as well, eight fantastic games.
“The crowd will be delighted with that and I can remember playing in the Champions League and those nights are what you take away from being a Celtic player, if you can manage to be successful.
“The boys are doing really, really well.”
