In the final months of the season, reports from Portugal reportedly repeatedly Celtic were interested in buying Paulo Bernardo from Benfica.
Following the midfielder’s loan spell, Brendan Rodgers’ side had a €7.5m option to keep him, but that clause was never triggered.
As Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã today writes about Benfica’s transfer market, they point out that the salary is the main reason why Paulo Bernardo isn’t staying at Celtic.
The outlet points out some mistakes that the Eagles made in the past, and one of them was to give the midfielder a contract where he’d make €1m clear of taxes every year.
That’s considered to be too much, and now Celtic also believe he has ‘too high a salary’ to buy him, as he’s probably asking similar to sign a permanent deal.
Benfica are set to take that as a lesson and not do the same with João Neves, who’s currently negotiating a new deal at the club.
As for Paulo Bernardo, it seems Celtic would need a very good offer to convince him to give up on what he gets from the Eagles.
