FROZEN-OUT midfielder Paulo Bernardo has quit Celtic on a season-long contract with Poland’s Gornik Zabrze.
The 24-year-old Portuguese midfielder made 64 appearances for the Hoops after initially arriving in a temporary transfer from Benfica in September 2023.
With Brendan Rodgers in charge, the switch was made permanent in a £3.5million deal, but the ball-playing middle-of-the-park performer became a bit-part player under Martin O’Neill.
Bernardo dropped off the radar as the Irishman utilised new signing Benjamin Nygren, Arne Engels, Reo Hatate and Luke McCowan alongside skipper Callum McGregor.
ON THE BALL…Paulo Bernardo in one of his 64 Celtic appearances.
More than half of the former Portugal Under-21 captain’s outings have been as a substitute and he last started a game in February, the dramatic 2-1 Scottish Cup extra-time victory over Dundee. Bernardo had made way for Nygren at the interval.
He was overlooked for O’Neill’s matchday squad for the opening Premiership game of the season as the champions beat the Dens Park outfit 1-0 at Parkhead on Monday night.
Gornik, who finished last term as runners-up, have an option to buy in the contract.
Bernardo joins the club as they prepare for the first leg of their Europa League third round qualifier against Ferencvaros in Hungary this evening.
Michal Gasparik’s side dropped down from the Champions League after last week’s 2-1 aggregate defeat by Fenerbahce.
They started the season with a 3-1 defeat by the league champions, Luis Palma’s Lech Poznan, in the Polish Super Cup, but beat Slask Wroclaw 2-1 in the opening game of the Ekstraklasa season.
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