Atletico Madrid make formal approach for Matt O'Riley

Celtic have received a bid from this season’s Champions League opponents Atletico Madrid, according to Sky Sports reporter Anthony Joseph whose update states that the proposal put before Celtic is a loan move with an option to buy.

O’Riley was outstanding in the Champions League match against the Spanish side in the 2-2 draw at Celtic Park and has clearly caught the eye of Diego Simeone. And if that’s the case you can bet that there will be plenty of other suitors for the Celtic midfield star who has been the outstanding player in Scottish football this season, and who won the Man of the Match at the weekend, picking up where he left off after the short winter break.

Matt O’Riley celebrates with Luis Palma after he scores during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Hibernian at Celtic Park Stadium on December 06, 2023 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Encouragingly for the Celtic support, the Sky Sports man states that Celtic believe that they are in a strong position, presumably to retain the player at this stage. And Matt O’Riley doesn’t appear to be in a particular rush to leave the club and looks like he intends to see out this season at the very least as a Celtic player.

Last summer Celtic got just over £25m for Jota, to match or better the previous transfer record but this looks likely to be smashed this summer as top sides from the big league look set to pounce to secure the services of the Denmark international midfielder.

Matt O’Riley of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s opening goal during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Hearts and Celtic FC at Tynecastle on October 22, 2023 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

And of course there could be good news for MK Dons of they have included a sell-on fee in their arrangement from January 2022 when they sold Matt O’Riley to Celtic for £1.5m.

Hopefully Celtic aren’t tempted by what’s on offer from Atletico Madrid, who don’t usually look to Scotland to sign players!