Alexandro Bernabei’s loan deal to SC Inter of Brazil appears to be some way short of the ‘done deal’ status that was being reported in Scotland yesterday.
The defender joined Celtic in the summer of 2022 but after some progress last season he was barely used by Brendan Rodgers until Greg Taylor suffered a calf knock in January.
After starting four matches in the SPFL Bernabei made way for the former Kilmarnock defender, on Sunday he failed to make the substitute bench away to Hearts.
It seems clear that the Argentinian doesn’t have much of a future under Brendan Rodgers but there doesn’t appear to be much logic to sending him out on loan in March when there is no obvious back up to Taylor in the Celtic squad.
🚨 Alexandro Bernabei es nuevo refuerzo del Inter 🇧🇷.
*⃣Llega proveniente del Celtic de Glasgow. Fuentes desde Escocia me confirman que ya es un #TratoHecho pic.twitter.com/BrXvw522aH— César Luis Merlo (@CLMerlo) March 6, 2024
Merlo is a transfer specialist based in South America but the source for his tweet was from Scotland. None of the usual suspects for Celtic transfer stories have been tweeting about the possible move, the Brazilian transfer window closes at midnight which is 3am in Scotland.
Sport Witness reports:
It was claimed in the player’s home country that the fullback is leaving the Hoops on a loan deal, following the very little playing time he’s been having under Brendan Rodgers.
It turns out that as the Brazilian media now shares their information on this Celtic transfer, Globo Esporte look to calm things down.
The outlet writes that Internacional are negotiating for Bernabei’s arrival from Celtic. However, nothing is done yet, and there’s a hurry to get the deal before Thursday evening, when the local transfer window closes.
The report claims that the negotiations are for a loan until the end of the year with an option to buy, and it appears that no one in Brazil knows how much Celtic want that clause to be.
That final line seems very telling.
In January Mark Lawwell was unable to agree terms on James McCarthy going out on loan from Celtic, at the age of 23 with a contract secured until 2027 Bernabei won’t be rushing to leave Scotland.
Ahead of the January transfer window he was being tipped to move to Italy, he has Italian citizenship but that move failed to happen, possibly related to Lawwell’s failure to bring in a replacement left-back to challenge Taylor.
Rodgers does has Tony Ralston and Liam Scales as options at left-back but neither has had much experience in that position this season.
Teenager Mitchel Frame made a big impression as a substitute at home to Feyenoord but hasn’t appeared in the Lowland League since January 5.
CLICK HERE for Bernabei Transfermarkt profile.
CLICK HERE for full SFA carge against Brendan Rodgers.
CLICK HERE for Celtic Supporters Association chief calls out Beaton for blatant cheating.
CLICK HERE for Celtic’s two statements on John Beaton.
