Celtic's next £20m sale identified as club stand to make another huge profit - 'he's that good'

Celtic have developed a knack for signing players, developing them, and selling them for huge profit.

Matt O'Riley became the latest off the conveyer belt when the midfielder joined Brighton for a £26million transfer fee towards the end of the summer window, which could rise to £30million with add-ons.

The Denmark international was just the latest in a long line of talents to have departed Celtic Park for a considerably higher sum than was spent securing them, with O'Riley costing just £1.5million when he arrived from MK Dons in 2022.

Moussa Dembele, Jota, Kristoffer Ajer, Jeremie Frimpong and Odsonne Edouard are just some of the names who spring to mind when it comes Celtic's impressive profit margins in the transfer market.

And former Celtic striker John Hartson reckons they may have struck gold again.

According to the big Welshman, Paulo Bernardo could go on to become the club's next big money sale after he impressed in the 3-0 win over Rangers.

Bernardo returned to Celtic on a £3.5million permanent transfer from Benfica after playing 33 times last season on loan, albeit with most of his appearances coming from the bench.

The Portugal Under-21 international was a stand-out in Celtic’s comfortable 3-0 win over their Glasgow rivals and Hartson believes he has the potential to become to become a £20million player.

Celtic's summer signing Paulo Bernardo impressed in the 3-0 win over Rangers. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group) | SNS Group

“Brendan likes signing players that he feels he can improve,” Harton told Go Radio. “Brendan’s brilliant on the training ground and he likes to work with them.

“You look at Bernardo now, who was absolutely terrific at the weekend. He’ll probably be the next £15m or £20m player to go from Celtic.

“He’s that good. Matt O’Riley was £1.5m from MK Dons a couple of years ago, you’ve got Kieran Tierney coming through from the youth team, Moussa Dembele who cost £500,000 and they sold him for £20m.

“It’s remarkable but it’s down to hard work from Brendan, his style and putting them in when they’re ready.”

Bernardo was one of eight new Celtic signings this summer with Kasper Schmeichel, Viljami Sinisalo, Alex Valle, Auston Trusty, Arne Engels, Luke McCowan and Adam Idah also added to the squad.

“I thought they covered most of the areas,” Harton added. “They got a left back in, they got a centre back in. A central midfielder and Adam Idah in attack.

“One of the best signings for me was Kasper Schmeichel to replace Joe Hart who was a fans’ favourite, great in the dressing room and really vociferous around the place. So to get another world class goalkeeper who has had a great career was a great bit of business.”

Celtic have made an imperious start to the season with the Premiership champions winning all five competitive matches so far while scoring 15 times and conceding just once.

“They’re riding the crest of a wave at the minute,” Hartson added. “They’ve got momentum, they’ve had a really good window and they’ve got some terrific players now.

“They’ve got a real style and there’s a terrific buzz around Celtic.

“They’ve got Champions League to come now as well, eight fantastic games. The crowd will be delighted with that and I can remember playing in the Champions League and those nights are what you take away from being a Celtic player, if you can manage to be successful.

“The boys are doing really, really well.”