Celtic went by a curious couple of days of hypothesis after it was reported that the membership had been set to signal central midfielder Bobby Clark for a payment of £6m.
It was claimed that the Hoops had been on track to clinch a deal for the 20-year-old RB Salzburg starlet, who’s presently on mortgage at Derby County, within the January switch window.
Nonetheless, Brendan Rodgers was quizzed in regards to the hyperlink forward of the conflict with Dundee and mentioned: “I wouldn’t usually say something on something, however I actually don’t know the place that has come from in any respect. Particularly in October.”
While it looks as if the hyperlink to Clark was vast of the mark, it was not a complete shock to see a central midfield hyperlink, on condition that Reo Hatate’s kind has tailed off this season.
Why Reo Hatate’s kind is a priority for Celtic
The Japan worldwide was in influential presence in midfield final season with a return of ten objectives and 14 ‘large probabilities’ created in 37 outings within the Scottish Premiership, per Sofascore.
Hatate offered a constant menace as each a scorer and a creator of objectives, however that has not been the case for him within the 2025/26 marketing campaign to date.
The 27-year-old star has scored one objective, created one ‘large probability’, and did not register any assists in six appearances within the Premiership, per Sofascore, as Celtic have failed to attain in 4 of their final 9 video games in all competitions.
Rodgers wants extra from his midfielders from an attacking perspective, due to Hatate’s regarding kind, however signing Bobby Clark shouldn’t be the reply, as Paulo Bernardo is an excellent higher choice than him.
Why Celtic ought to unleash Paulo Bernardo
The Portugal U21 worldwide has the standard to be the membership’s subsequent model of Hatate in the course of the park, as a central midfielder who can rating and create objectives for the crew.
Clark, in the meantime, has no objectives and no assists in 9 appearances for Derby within the Championship, per Sofascore, after a return of 1 objective and no assists in 17 matches within the Austrian Bundesliga for Salzburg within the 2024/25 marketing campaign.
These statistics don’t recommend that the English starlet would arrive at Parkhead to offer the objectives and assists that the Hoops are presently missing in midfield.
|
Paulo Bernardo (Premiership) |
23/24 |
24/25 |
|---|---|---|
|
Begins |
11 |
13 |
|
Targets |
3 |
2 |
|
Conversion charge |
10% |
8% |
|
Key passes |
11 |
31 |
|
Huge probabilities created |
4 |
5 |
|
Assists |
3 |
3 |
Nonetheless, as you may see within the desk above, Bernardo’s kind in his first two full Premiership seasons with the membership recommend that he has the potential to ship high quality within the remaining third.
The Portuguese whiz, who was hailed as “tenacious” by Rodgers, scored 5 objectives and created 9 ‘large probabilities’ in 24 Premiership begins in these two campaigns, which is a reasonably spectacular haul for a participant who didn’t play week-in-week-out.
His statistics within the Premiership present that he’s a greater central midfield choice than Clark, who has did not make a lot of an affect on the high finish of the pitch at Salzburg or Derby prior to now 18 months, since leaving Liverpool in the summertime of 2024.
Sadly, although, Rodgers has solely handed Bernardo two appearances and one begin within the Premiership this season, which implies that he has not had many alternatives to showcase his high quality in midfield.
Given Hatate’s drop-off in kind, the Celtic supervisor must be trying to unleash the Portuguese expertise within the coming weeks as a result of he has the attacking potential to be the membership’s subsequent model of the Hatate that that they had in the course of the park final time period.
