Fabrizio Romano has advised that Matt O’Riley could be the first Celtic player to be targeted for a summer transfer with clubs in England and Germany interested in the Celtic midfielder, who was outstanding in the Scottish Cup Final win over Inverness Caley Thistle at the weekend and was the only Celtic player to play a part in every Scottish Premiership match last season.
The highly regarded journalist specialises in transfer stories and is the point of contact for many agents and indeed clubs so his information is more often than not, accurate. Romano only mentions one club at this stage, presumably a front-runner, and that is English Premier League side Brighton, who probably have just enjoyed their best season ever.
Their interest is a surprise only when considering that Reo Hatate was widely tipped to be of interest to the south coast side.
O’Riley, a product of the Fulham youth system, arrived at Celtic in the 2021 transfer window, a bargain £1.5m signing from MK Dons and immediately established himself as a key player in Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side. During his time at Celtic, O’Riley opted for an international career with Denmark – rather than England or even Norway – and made an impact at Under 21 level but narrowly missed out on a place in the squad that went to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
When Celtic captain Callum McGregor picked up an injury in the Champions League, his place in the side as the holding midfielder was filled by brilliantly by Matt O’Riley. Post World Cup and with McGregor returning to the side, O’Riley moved back to his more advanced role in the Celtic midfield but the 22 year old suffered a slight dip in form but was back to his best over the past few months as Celtic completed an historic eighth treble and qualified for the Champions League group stages.
With time on his side that might be a factor for Matt O’Riley who might fancy another chance to play in club football’s premier competition before thinking about leaving Celtic. However as we once again were reminded this week, money talks in football.
Hopefully Matt O’Riley is in no rush to leave Celtic.
Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley attracting interest from England and Germany — with Brighton being one of the clubs considering him for the summer. 🟢🇩🇰
Decision time in the next days/weeks, waiting for concrete proposals. pic.twitter.com/VAVaDPL3Eo
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 7, 2023
