Celtic and Southampton are in discussions over a deal for Matt O’Riley, according to a football journalist. The Sun’s Jack Rosser claims that the newly promoted Premier League side are interested in bringing the Danish Internationalist to St Mary’s this summer and are ready to launch another bid.
Speaking on Twitter/X, Rosser said that talks are ongoing but that discussions have moved to including former Man City talent Shea Charles in any deal.
Charles joined Southampton last season from Manchester City and made 38 appearances in all competitions. However, it appears that the N Ireland Internationalist could be heading to Celtic Park on a loan with an option to buy to sweeten the deal.
Celtic might be somewhat reluctant to get into a deal of this kind. Southampton paid a reported fee of £15m for Charles, meaning that they would need to get a very favourable deal to get this across the line. There is also whether the player would want to go and play at one of the teams that will be immediately threatened with relegation when there is interest from Serie A.
The Dane was Celtic’s standout performer as Brendan’s side won another Premiership title as well as taking the Scottish Cup back to Paradise. The form was such that the Celtic support were surprised that O’Riley was pipped to the Scottish PFA award by Lawrence Shankland.
Since arriving from MK Dons in January 2022, O’Riley scored 8 goals and assisted 16 times in 72 appearances under Ange Postecoglou. The Australian departed for Spurs bringing Brendan Rodgers back to Paradise, which took O’Riley’s performances to another level – scoring 19 goals and assisting 18 times in 49 appearances.
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