Bernardo and Sinisalo both within development strategy. “Nailed on” England manager

According to Sky Sports, Celtic have reached an agreement with Benfica for Paulo Bernardo and Aston Villa for keeper Viljami Sinisalo, which is encouraging. Both players are 22 years old and fall under the ‘young prospect’ category. The news of Kasper Schmeichel’s impending arrival raised concerns that Brendan had deviated from our developmental strategy.
Sinisalo is a full Finland cap and played 50 games for third-tier Exeter City last season. That’s too large a gap to bridge to Champions League status, but it’s enough to establish the player’s credentials.

The full details of Paulo’s deal with Benfica are unlikely to be revealed in the near future. Following Jota’s successful experience with both clubs, Benfica will undoubtedly want a large portion of any resale value for a player who is already a regular in the Celtic team.

We are still filling in the gaps left at the end of last season, but these transactions would represent significant progress prior to the start of the season.

This morning’s news that Gareth Soutgate has resigned as England manager serves as a reminder that last year, a leading Scottish newspaper found someone willing to say Michael Beale was “nailed on” to become England manager and could lead them to World Cup glory. This is the world in which we strive to provide objective football commentary.