Paulo Bernardo is Celtic transfer target with unlimited potential as Benfica mentor ranks golden boy with Joao Felix

Renato Paiva saw them all come through the Benfica academy to become superstars.

Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Renato Sanches, Bernardo Silva, Helder Costa and Joao Felix to name just some over the course of his 18 years overseeing the development of young talent at a club that rivals Ajax as being among the best on the planet at producing world-class footballers. So when Paiva, now the head coach of Bahia in Brazil, casts his mind back over the kids he coached at Benfica’s incredible Seixal training campus and pinpoints Paulo Bernardo as the one whose potential has no limits, it’s worth taking his opinion seriously.

And when the possibility of this kid playing his football in Scotland with Celtic this season arises, Paiva’s comments on him should fill Parkhead fans with hope they will soon be witnessing someone pretty special from the same academy that gave the Jota. Bernardo, at 21, has already made 17 appearances for Benfica’s first team but after being farmed out to Pacos de Ferreira in the second half of last term, is not part of current boss Roger Schmidt’s plans for this season. The Portuguese giants – nicknames The Eagles – are, however, ready to sanction another loan deal for the player who is under contract until 2027 and is highly enough rated to have a £90million buyout clause built into it.

That’s way too rich for Celtic’s blood, clearly, but a loan deal with the guarantee of Champions League and the knowledge on Benfica’s side that Jota was brilliantly developed in Scotland, could persuade Estadio da Luz president Rui Costa – whose has seen Bernardo’s flamboyant attacking-midfield style compared to the talent he showed at AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund – Glasgow would be a suitable destination for their