City Group owed La Liga leaders Girona are ‘strongly interested’ in signing Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley and a bid is expected before the transfer window closes in a fortnight’s time. Sky Sports broke this story this evening and you can watch their video below.
And Sky Sports journalist Lyall Thomas expands on this in an exclusive report where he states that “La Liga leaders Girona are strongly interested in signing Celtic’s Matt O’Riley before the deadline. Another big club in Spain looking too and at least one in the Premier League. Top player.”
His Sky Sports colleague Anthony Joseph, who has a better grasp on the Celtic position in all of this, gave this update on the breaking transfer news. He said: La Liga leaders Girona have joined the list of clubs interested in Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley. Brendan Rodgers sees him as a key player and – after he signed a new bumper contract – Celtic are in a strong position.”
Matt O’Riley signed a contract extension in the summer and appears to be perfectly happy playing for Celtic and in no rush to go to the next level with his career. He was playing League One football with MK Dons before Celtic, now he’s won four major honours, played in the Champions League and has broken into the Denmark national side. O’Riley is not going to be short of suitors and Celtic would not get more money for him in January as opposed to the summer or even the summer after that.
Celtic midfielder Matthew O’Riley and Lazio defender Elseid Hisaj vie for the ball during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic and Lazio at Celtic Park on October 4, 2023. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
And with a huge financial bonanza from the new Champions League structure from next season, winning the Scottish Premiership this season brings with it unmissable returns, that is why Celtic are unlikely to entertain any bid in January and there are bound to be several.
Leeds United had a £10m bid rejected by Celtic in the summer and now O’Riley’s valuation appeared to have tripled since then. Who is to say it will not rise further in the second half of the season?
Celtic would be crazy to consider selling the best player in the Scottish Premiership at this stage. It would be illogical and unthinkable. And when he does leave, Matt O’Riley will carefully select his next move and with all respect to Girona and the wonderful season that they are having, it’s unlikely to be them that he chooses.
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