Celtic have reportedly agreed a deal worth £30m to sell Matt O’Riley to Brighton. The Premier League side ramped up their interest in the 23-year-old over the last week and now they appear to have clinched a deal that will see O’Riley swap Glasgow for England’s South Coast.
As reported by Italian football journalist Fabrizio Romano on Twitter/X, a deal has been struck between the clubs.
🚨🔵 Matt O’Riley to Brighton, here we go! Agreement sealed as reported earlier as #BHAFC complete one more massive signing.
Celtic to receive £25m fixed fee plus add-ons up to £30m package, record fee in Scotland.
O’Riley and Kadioglu, done deals. 🇩🇰🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/fpLZmZiKNl
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 23, 2024
O’Riley has clearly been identified as a signing that can go straight to the top. Celtic struck gold when they signed O’Riley from MK Dons in January 2022 in a deal worth £1.5m. In 124 appearances, O’Riley scored 27 goals and assisted on 35 occasions, winning six trophies. In the last campaign under Brendan Rodgers, O’Riley stole the show as he won Player of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.
🇩🇰 | 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙩 𝙊’𝙍𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙅𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙤𝙣
Celtic have agreed a deal for Matt O’Riley to Brighton for a Scottish record fee worth up to £30M.
– A fantastic footballer
– A gentlemen
– A player going right to the topThanks for the memories Matt, always a Bhoy 💚🍀 pic.twitter.com/XgPWvuBLQQ
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) August 23, 2024
O’Riley clearly ‘got’ Celtic and was adored by supporters. Despite being the subject of intersections summer, the 23-year-old continued to work away with Brendan Rodgers and the rest of the team, not allowing himself to be distracted by speculation.
It will be disappointing to see O’Riley leave but he’s an extremely talented player that will thrive in the Premier League, which will help increase his value to Celtic and act as a advert to other players about the opportunities at Celtic.
Henrick Larsson was a far more talented player yet he showed loyalty to the club that put him on the map by staying 7 years. No harm to Matt, I wish him well, but he has left the squad in a greatly weakened position going forward. You can bet that the Celtic Board will not spend a fraction of the money they get for him, that much is certain. It is now abundantly clear that this Celtic Board puts profit above the team, the fans and the reputation of Celtic in Europe. There is no other ambition in these people but to continue to sell our best players and replace them with cheap crap.
This is as good as us doing well in Europe the reality to the suits on the board.
It’s unfortunately our reality too due to the quirk of a league & their TV revenue just a few hundred miles away.No point in moaning IMHO.
We supporters ‘big’ crumbs are enjoying leagues, cups & the satisfaction of knowing we developed & adored the Henriks/VVDs & now the Matts. All the best Matt & thank you.
Well I hope he does well at Brighton gave us plenty of good football and I wish him well”25/30 million just to much to turn down let’s see who we get to replace him.????
I agree, Martin.
Matt could have shown some loyalty by staying another year at least – his value would only have increased & he’d have been sought after by bigger/more successful clubs – but good luck to him. I hope he does well and achieves whatever it is he’s seeking.
What really irks me is the fact that all Lawwell seems to want is money in the bank. What on earth is the point of him boasting about how much money the club has stockpiled and what use is it sitting in the bank? Surely investment in strengthening the team could only result in more income in sales further down the line?
Brendan Rodgers has stated publicly on a number of occasions that he needs to strengthen the team and his aim is to do better in European competition so why has Lawwell not done as Rodgers’ wished?
We know Lawwell is a control freak, greedy and manipulative and that he undermined Brendan last time around – in fact he probably contributed to Brendan’s abrupt departure – so is he intent on doing the same again?
Of course there is also the possibilty that Brendan got assurances from Desmond before he came back this time and a ready-made replacement for Matt is already lined up and will be brought in before Matt’s departure is actually signed off … and maybe there are a couple of others being brought in to comply with Brendan’s wishes?
With about seven days left in the transfer window we will know the answers very shortly.
100% pace we need in the team left back a solid centre back replace matt booooom
Oh my God, the man has been an absolute servant to the club , PPotY, PotY and YPOTY, has spoken consistently of his love of the club and the support. We are a selling club in the grand scheme of things, buy a guy for 1.5 million and sell him for 30 million, perfect business model. 3 years is probably above average for players to hang around before the PL start sniffing, good luck matt and who knows maybe the board will surprise us all and sanction some spending in the next week. Hail Hail
Well lads it’s time for matt to leave a massive football club to the mighty Brighton fair play weathers better moneys better what else is there oh no ambition hope the lad gets his move to a much bigger club cause he deserves it what a player can’t believe big Ange paid £30m for a bhoy from Leeds and hasn’t took a punt on matt as Brendan said judge the lad not the league well buy again just need a bit of pace in the middle and Celtic will just keep getting better and better