Paulo Bernardo reckons that the decision by Brendan Rodgers to play him as as six rather than his natural position as an eight contributed to hm falling out of the picture at Celtic last season…
That was a prelude to an inevitable Celtic exit this summer when the former Portugal u21 skipper signed on at Polish outfit Gornik Zabrze for a season long loan. But the former Benfica midfielder has NOT closed the door on a return to Celtic next season.
In an interview with Newsquest outlet TCW, Paulo Bernardo, who was also rather unlucky with injuries while at Celtic, outlined his own thoughts on why he struggled to get much game-time last season under Rodgers, Martin O’Neill twice and Wilfried Nancy in what was a turbulent season for Celtic on and off the park.
Yet it was of course a season that ended on such a tremendous high with the title being snatched from Hearts in the closing minutes of the Scottish Premiership campaign and the Scottish Cup arriving a week later as the cherry on the cake.
Bernardo to be fair to him, does not appear to be bitter in any way, more frustrated that he wasn’t able to show his best in a Celtic shirt last season, but he wad nevertheless thrilled at the manner in which his teammates were able to win the league against all the odds.
“In the beginning of the season, with the signing of other players, I started to play more as a six and not as my initial position when I joined Celtic,” Paulo Bernardo told The Celtic Way. “I think that was one of the key facts. In Celtic I never got the consistency to play in a run of games. It was always one or two and then bench again.
“Then maybe one start and then one bench. I think for me, I never got the consistency. For me, I think that was the problem at Celtic. I started to play in a more deep role. I’m not that comfortable there and I don’t like it that much. I think that was it last season.”
Clearly the Portuguese midfielder sees himself as an eight. “Yes, I think for me that’s the best position I can play because I like to defend in the midfield, but I like to attack as well and be closer to the goal and have the opportunities to score goals or to create goals. For me, it’s important to play. I can play as a six as well and I think I play well when I play there, but I think I can give more to the game as a No.8.”
Paulo talked too about his ‘honest’ talks with Martin O’Neill ahead of his decision to move to Poland. He explained:Â Â “It was very important for me to play and I’m still at the age that I need to play. Here, hopefully I can do that for the rest of the season. Of course it all depends on how I can perform.
“It was a very important thing for me that I need to play football. When I talked to the club, to the coach [Gasparik], he was very happy for me to join and that was a key factor to join here. I spoke to him [O’Neill] the last days that the deal was almost done. I had the conversation with him and I told him I needed to play football and I don’t think in Celtic right now I would have the game time that I needed.”
And he has refused to rule out a return to Parkhead – despite his current club being able to trigger a purchase option: “If Gornik want me in the final part of the season, I’m happy here right now and I think it can be a good thing.
“I always loved my time at Celtic. The football last season, I didn’t enjoy that much because I didn’t play, but I was very happy for me and my team to win the championship in that part of the season was amazing, and the cup. I will always love Celtic. I think it’s one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“I will fight always for my place, but you never know in these situations. I don’t have any regrets to join Celtic or I don’t have any problems to join Celtic again.”
One takeaway from this is that Paulo Bernardo accepts that he can play as a six, although he prefers to play as a No.8 to be able to influence the attack. Â However as a player who can and has played as a No.6 on the squad, Celtic perhaps made an error in letting him go out on loan rather than keeping Bernardo as an option as a defensive midfielder.
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