Celtic Reportedly value Matt at €40 million, and quite rightly too. It was reported at the weekend that Atletico Madrid will be looking to test Celtic’s resolve with yet another bid for Matt O’Riley.
Well now the Spanish giants know the asking price and will be well aware of the strong interest in signing the Celtic Player of the Year this summer. According to one of Spain’s leading newspapers Diario AS, the La Liga side will look to snap up the Danish international if they negotiate the contract termination of current midfielder Saul.
According to the reliable outlet, Celtic now value Matt at a whopping €40 million (£33.8 million) a significant increase on the £18 million the Spanish club believed Matt was worth just a short few months ago when they attempted to acquire him on loan with an obligation to buy, this summer.
If Celtic are going to be giving multiple top league clubs the entirely reasonable €40 million valuation then it’s likely that the Scottish transfer record, held of course by Celtic, will be smashed this summer.
Maybe more lowball offers in the region of £22-£27 million will be seen as being more realistic for a player from the Scottish Premiership but Celtic are correct to demand top dollar for our most valuable asset within our playing staff.
Too many clubs lowball our club when they should know better, especially when you see average players down south going for eye watering fees. Matt O’Riley is a player who has proved he can compete at a high level with his displays in Europes premier competition. He also recently signed an extension to his contract so it’s only right we demand a high fee for his services.
Celtic is expecting plenty of interest in Matt O’Riley this summer and this time there will be no bargains. If the asking price is met that will also see Matt’s previous club MK Dons benefit from their reported 10% sell-on clause, so after selling the player to Celtic for the release clause value of £1.5m in January 2022, they could be set to pick up double that after O’Riley’s development at Celtic.
Incidentally, anyone watching Denmark yesterday will be astonished that Matt O’Riley was not in that team. Indeed he wasn’t even in their squad.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
It’s absolutely right that Celtic are asking for a very modest (IMO) €40m. For too long clubs from other countries have been stealing players from us and Scottish clubs in general. We don’t need to sell and the player is happy at the club, so if no one is willing to pay the asking price, then he stays, and it’s that simple. Enough of downgrading the quality in our team because the overall quality in the league is poor. We’ve had some terrific players over the years, who have been sold for a fraction of their worth because they ply their trade in Scotland, only for them to go to smaller clubs in bigger leagues and flourish. Poke your 10% and well instead take the full value. Of course a player is only worth what someone is willing to pay, but a good player is a good player regardless of the league the play in and In my opinion, €40m for O’Reilly is very good buy and I’m sure if he was playing in another European league, we would be looking north of £50m.
Although he & others will leave at some point, I just hope Celtic reinvest the profit made (as a minimum) on a replacement, but that might just be naive and wishful thinking.
HAIL HAIL
KEEP THE FAITH🍀🍀