Full details have emerged of the transfer fee that Celtic agreed to pay to sign Matt O’Riley from MK Dons.
The midfielder joined Celtic on January 20 and turned in two impressive displays before the drama of Deadline Day got underway. Few Celtic fans have been disappointed by the performances of the club’s fifth January signing.
One manager who was far from happy is Russell Martin. A year ago he enticed O’Riley from Fulham with the promise of regular first team football, when the former Scotland internationalist switched to Swansea he had hoped to bring O’Riley with him.
Knowing the player and his contract details, including a £1.5m get-out clause should have made it a fairly straightforward deal for Swansea to complete but while they dithered Celtic stepped in and added another quality midfielder to their rota.
Discussing Swansea’s business through the window and revealing the exact transfer details, Wales Online reports:
Matt O’Riley was also targeted, and the player himself was keen to be re-united with his former boss Martin. A source close to the midfielder noted a frustration with the Swans’ lack of conviction when it came to striking a deal. But it once again came down to finances.
He ultimately joined Celtic for £1.5m on higher wages than he would have earned at Swansea. Nevertheless, the Swans were disappointed not to get their man having cited the development of key players such as Flynn Downes and Joel Piroe under the current regime who commanded similar fees to that which saw O’Riley move to Scotland.
And that pain was only heightened after an attractive instalments package that would have seen the Swans pay just £300,000 of that fee up front proved insufficient in convincing the club’s owners to stump up for the 21-year-old. The remaining £1.2m would have been given to MK Dons in chunks across the next four windows, although it wasn’t to be.
A down payment of £300,000 for O’Riley looks like money well spent with the balance spread over two full years hardly likely to be a burden with the former England u-18 internationalist looking quickly at home plating Angeball.
