Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that the Matt O’Riley transfer from Celtic to Brighton is now at the document signing stage.
The Celtic Player of the Year yesterday travelled south to undergo his medical before completing his move today. Now that that is out the way the deal worth up to £30m for Celtic will now be concluded and Matt O’Riley will be a Brighton player.
O’Riley arrived from MK Dons in the January 2022 transfer window, making no secret of the fact that he decided to accept the Celtic offer as this was the club that he could develop as a player over a few years before moving on to play at the top of the game in one of the top leagues.
Yet Matt O’Riley made the most of every single day at Celtic, appreciating everything about the club and having a wonderful relationship with the Celtic support. When Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham and Brendan Rodgers came in, O’Riley’s game went up a level and he was the classiest player in Scottish football last season, starring in the Champions League and adding goals to his game.
Yet somehow the hacks made Lawrence Shankland their Player of the Year. But money talks in football and the £30m deal maybe shows that Matt was under appreciated across the game, or maybe it was just jealousy?
Matt leaves Celtic with everyone connected with the club’s best wishes and there will most likely be a further reason down the line to appreciate his contribution to the Celtic cause. Brighton, like Celtic, are a development club and a few seasons starring for the Seagulls in the Premier league will probably see him move up a level to one of the top Champions League sides in England or Spain.
That will give Celtic a substantial windfall. On a smaller scale MK Dons will most likely be entitled to a windfall from the current deal and that will be a significant boost for them.
Hail Hail, Matt, go smash it up in the Premier League.
🔵🔐 Ferdi Kadioglu and Matt O’Riley to Brighton, all documents being signed.
Package in excess of €30m for Kadioglu, £30m package add-ons included for O’Riley.
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— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 25, 2024
