Paulo Bernardo, or to give him his full name, 'Paulo Bernardo' Gonçalves Bernardo, is a Portuguese-born midfielder currently deployed in a central midfield role for Celtic Football Club. Born on the 24th of January, 2002, this makes him a relatively fresh-faced 23-year-old. The lad stands at a respectable 5ft 10in (1.8m) and weighs in at around 12st 1lb (77kg). You'll see him most often sporting the number 28 jersey and it's in this gear that he's represented the Portugal U21 national team.
Take a wee gander at Transfermarkt and you'll see his current market value listed as approx £5.1m. He's not likely to dart off any time soon either; his contract has a decent span of 4 years and 3 months left, taking us up to the end of June, 2029.
Our Paulo originally came up through the ranks at Benfica, joining them in July 2010 as a trainee. His first season in the first team (2021 - 2022) saw him make 17 appearances. By January 2023 he'd popped over to Paços de Ferreira on loan where he put in 13 appearances and booted in two goals.
His first stint at Celtic began in September 2023, also on loan. During the 2023 - 2024 season, he was a regular feature on the pitch, making 22 appearances and sending the ball into the back of the net three times.
A permanent move to Celtic came about in August 2024 for a fee in the region of £3.5m. Since then, he's maintained his presence on the field, clocking up 22 appearances and three goals in the following season. The current season (2024 - 2025) has seen him make another 23 appearances and net two goals.
Aside from his league outings, Paulo's been involved in several tournaments for both Celtic and Portugal U21. He's played in the Champions League (2023 - 2024 & 2024 - 2025), the Scottish League Cup (2024 - 2025), the Scottish Cup (2024 - 2025), and the UEFA U21 Championship Qualifiers (2024 - 2025). Across these competitions, he's scored five goals and made a significant number of appearances, both starting and from the bench.
