Can Paolo Bernardo save Celtic’s season? We ought to find out.

There are always players who drift in and out of a Celtic team over the course of a season. Form dips. Injuries happen. Tactical changes come and go. Managers rotate, experiment, and sometimes make calls that supporters don’t fully understand in the moment.

That’s football.

But every now and then, you get a situation that doesn’t quite fit any of those explanations. And right now, at Celtic, that situation is Paolo Bernardo. Because his absence from this side is not just noticeable anymore. It’s becoming inexplicable.

Bernardo should not be some fringe player who has barely featured. He is not a development project being eased in slowly. He is not someone who has come in, struggled badly, and been quietly moved to the margins. This is a Portuguese Under 21 who is very capable and can play in a different way from our current crop.

We have seen him play. We have seen what he offers, and what he offers is something this team has been crying out for. Energy in midfield. Forward movement. A willingness to carry the ball. A player who takes responsibility in possession rather than simply recycling it.

In a season where one of the most consistent criticisms of Celtic has been slow, predictable, sideways football, Bernardo’s absence stands out precisely because he doesn’t play that way. He has always looked like a player who wanted to move the game forward. A player who understood that possession has to mean something.

And yet, here we are, watching game after game where Celtic struggle to create, struggle to inject tempo, struggle to break lines… and Bernardo is nowhere to be seen.

Not starting. Not influencing games. Sometimes not even involved in a meaningful way. It doesn’t add up. You can try to explain it, to say it’s tactical. You can say it’s about balance, about shape, about specific match-ups. Hell, you can say the manager prefers other profiles in certain games. But at some point, those explanations start to wear thin.

Because what we are watching on the pitch is not working. That’s the key.

If the system was functioning, if the midfield was controlling games effectively, if chances were being created consistently, you might accept that Bernardo simply doesn’t fit what the manager wants to do. But that’s not what we’re seeing.

We are seeing a midfield that is too often static. Too often cautious. Too often content to move the ball without actually progressing it. We are seeing players take the safe option again and again. And in that context, leaving out one of the few players who has shown a willingness to do something different becomes a far bigger issue.

Because it raises a question that goes beyond Bernardo himself. What exactly is the selection based on right now? Form? It doesn’t look like it. Impact? That’s questionable. Suitability to the system? Possibly, but then what does that say about the system?

Because if the system excludes players who can inject energy and movement into the team, then maybe the problem isn’t the player. Maybe it’s the system itself, and let’s be honest, every single one of us has talked about the system needing changed.

Maybe the manager doesn’t trust him, although I would find that incredible.

He looks like someone who will try things. Someone who will take risks. Someone who might lose the ball, but also might break a line, create a chance, or change the tempo of a game. In a confident, well-functioning team, that kind of player is an asset. In a team that is struggling, that kind of player can become a risk.

And maybe that is what we are seeing.

A management approach that is becoming more conservative, more cautious, more focused on control than creativity. But if that is the case, then it is backfiring. Because what Celtic lack right now is not control. It’s incision.

We need more urgency and unpredictability. We need to inject energy into the whole team, because it’s the thing we lack most. All the things Bernardo has shown glimpses of when he’s been given the opportunity.

That is why his omission stands out. Not because he is the perfect player. Not because he is the answer to every problem this team has, but because he represents something different and God knows we need something different right now.

When you consistently leave out players who offer that, especially in a side that is clearly lacking it, it sends a message and the message is either: we don’t value those qualities or we don’t trust the players who bring them. Neither of those is particularly encouraging.

Because right now, Celtic do not need more of the same. We need change. We need players who will take the game by the scruff of the neck, who will move it forward, who will inject something into a side that too often looks like it is going through the motions. Bernardo, from what we’ve seen, is one of those players.

Which is why his absence is no longer just a selection decision.

It’s a question, and it’s one that is becoming harder to ignore with every passing game.

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