It seems Denmark Under 21 coach Jesper Sorensen is adding his name to the ever-increasing list of Matt O’Riley’s admirers.
O’Riley has been called up to the Denmark Under-21 team for today’s Euro qualifier with Belgium, and it appears, as he does with Celtic, his application on and off the pitch is impressing his new coach.
As reported in Danish publication Tipsbladet, Sorensen is seeing a real effort from O’Riley to integrate himself with the Danish squad.
“He is a thoughtful, pleasant young man who reflects a lot and has a steely will. He does a lot to integrate as well as possible in the squad.”
And much of that is down to O’Riley’s willingness to communicate in Danish, as he explained to the Danish media.
“I do not want to be the type who comes in and then just speaks English. I do my best to learn and understand Danish. I want my Danish language again, so I do not forget the things I once learned. Sometimes I cannot say what I think and it’s wildly annoying. But it has already gotten better during the week I’ve been here.”
O’Riley has been an impressive signing for Celtic after arriving from MK Dons for a snip at £1.5m during the January transfer window. On the pitch he looks every inch a player who can play at the highest level, while off it his appearances in front of the media have introduced the Celtic supporters to a young man with an impressive ability to communicate and a real ambition to reach the top of the game.
As such it’s probably not surprising that Matt O’Riley wanted to talk the talk, as well as walk the walk on international duty in Denmark. After all, if he impresses against Belgium today, O’Riley has already admitted he harbours ambitions of making Denmark’s World Cup squad for Qatar at the end of the year.
And you wouldn’t put it past Matt O’Riley to manage just that, after all it appears he’s fully invested in making an impression on his national team – and it’s not just his feet doing the talking.
Niall J
Morning Gossip: Karamoko Dembele looks likely to opt for the Ivory Coast after meeting their head coach in London. Positive vibes on Jota with reports @CelticFC should be his next destination as Benfica time looks over. Matt O’Riley will make his Danish u21 debut today HH pic.twitter.com/5HJEOE2A7z
— Celtic Gossip (@CelticGossip) March 29, 2022
