Bernardo returns to Red Bull Salzburg on loan

Brighton & Hove Albion’s Brazilian left back Bernardo has completed a loan move back to Red Bull Salzburg until the end of the season.

The defender has found first team opportunities hard to come by ever since Graham Potter was appointed as Seagulls boss in the summer of 2019. He has started just eight Premier League games out of 57 under Potter as Dan Burn was preferred at left back last season.

Solly March’s reinvention as a left wing back in Potter’s 3-4-3 formation has limited his playing time even more in the current campaign and the early recall of 19-year-old Michal Karbownik from Legia Warsaw has pushed Bernardo even further down the pecking order.

Brighton paid £9 million for Bernardo in 2018 and after a slow start to his Albion career, he established himself as a first team regular during his first winter at the club.

He was one of the few players to impress in the second half of the 2018-19 season as Brighton’s form deserted them, eventually leading to Chris Hughton being sacked at the end of the campaign.

There were high hopes that Bernardo would thrive even more as an attack-minded full back under a more attacking manager in Potter.

Knee surgery four games into Potter’s first season at the helm did not help, but he had only made one start under the new manager before he went under the knife, suggesting Potter did not fancy him from the start regardless of injury.

On the rare occasions when Bernardo has been given opportunities, he has been frighteningly inconsistent. Nothing summed that up better than his performance in the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City.

He spent the first half wandering around like a bloke who had smoked 60 Lambert & Butler before the game and was having some sort of health crisis as a result.

Lord knows what happened at half time but he then came out after the break and was one of the best Brighton players on the pitch in a plucky Albion display.

Bernardo has been woeful against League One Portsmouth in the Carabao Cup (despite scoring his first Brighton goal) but has then given Arsenal plenty to think about in the Premier League.

Frustrating is probably the best word to describe him – although he might have found some consistency if he had been given a decent run of games at some point in the last 18 months – and Potter has decided to cut his losses for now by allowing him to return to Austria.

Bernardo previously played for Red Bull Salzburg in the second half of the 2015-16 after signing from Red Bull Brasil in January 2016.

He made 26 appearances before transferring to Red Bull Leipzig in the summer of 2016 for £3.4 million, from where Brighton bought him two years later. He just needs to move to New York Red Bulls to complete the energy drink set.

What happens to Bernardo at the end of the season remains unclear. His Brighton contract still has another 18 months run and at the age of 25, he needs to be playing first team football.

Both the Albion and the player must therefore be hoping that he impresses enough on loan in Salzburg to convince Red Bull to make a summer move, or that his performances attract interest from elsewhere in Europe. Brighton will want to recoup as much of the £9 million they spent in 2018 as possible.

History does not judge that summer transfer window in which Bernardo joined kindly. Not only has the Brazilian struggled to make the grade in England, but so too has £17 million signing Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who may also move on this January in such of regular action.

£5.2 million Florin Andone has scored as many goals in an Albion shirt (six) as he missed games through suspension and spent last season on loan at Galatasaray, telling Andy Naylor and The Athletic that he did not want to play for the club again as he had been treated nastily.

£6 million Martin Montoya is now at Real Betis, £4 million David Button at West Bromwich Albion and Leon Balogun with Rangers. Thank God for Yves Bissouma then who cost Brighton £15 million 12 days after Bernardo’s arrival and who is now worth around four times that, as Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid and any other suitors will find out if they wish to sign him.

The most disappointing aspect about Bernardo failing to establish himself at Brighton is it means that the best Albion player-song ever invented returns to the can.

Sung to ABBA’s Fernando, “He came to Sussex by the Sea, from Germany, Bernardo.” Lyrical genius and easily the finest work that the NSK have ever come up with, it is criminal that it never took off in the way it deserved.