EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 11: Celtic's Nicolas Kuhn celebrates with Matt O'Riley after scoring to make it 1-0 during a William Hill Premiership match between Hibernian and Celtic at Easter Road, on August 11, 2024, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
After rejecting a £20m bid from Atalanta for Matt O’Riley on Saturday Sky Sports are reporting an improved offer coming in from the Europa League holders.
It seems a bizarre way of doing business but according to the well informed Anthony Joseph a fifth bid is about to be made to take the midfielder from Celtic.
Three earlier bids from Atalanta are reported to have covered a range of just £1m but with the figure now being reported above £20m Celtic may soon get around the negotiating table.
Late on Sunday night Sky Sports reported:
Atalanta are preparing a fifth bid for Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley, according to Sky Italy.
Sky Sports News revealed on Saturday that the Hoops rejected a fourth bid of £20m from the Serie A club.
Atalanta club have been trying to land the Denmark international for over a month with previous bids of £14m, £14.3m and £15m all rejected by Celtic.
Two games into the new season O’Riley is an essential part of the Celtic midfield, picking up on last season’s form with added confidence knowing the interest that he has generated.
Celtic have signed Paulo Bernardo on a permanent basis but the former Benfica man is a very different type of midfielder from O’Riley who was signed from MK Dons in January 2022.
With just 18 days left in the transfer window it seems like activity is going to pick up with Celtic ill equipped to lose the man that swept the board at the club’s Player of the Year awards.
I see ALKIE pizza face is at it again with his article in the daily sevco today,apparently public disorder could return to the car par at Parkhead should no signings be done before the end of this month.
What an absolute doughball this guy is,writing hid articles like a punch drunk boxer and yet every word is approved by and editor even more pished than ALKIE face.
They must sit in that daily sevco office with a big massive JOINT and a kerry-oot to wash it down talking this shite before putting it into print.
Is this a disruption tactic from Atalanta? Attempting to unsettle the player.
I would treat that club with the derision it deserves, they bitch about Juve blackmailing them for Koopmeiners and yet here they are acting the maggot for the past three weeks with Celtic. I sincerely hope that they don’t get him, if he has any sense he’ll go South, to Brighton with a hefty sell on fee.
“Hello its Atalanta here…is O’Riley for sale ?”
“Aye …but fur nae less than £25 million”
“Wid ye take £14 million ?”
“Naw ”
“Hi its Atalanta again…Wid ye take £15 million ?”
“Naw ”
“Hello its us again…Wid ye take £18 million ?”
“Naw ”
“Guess who this is…??..Wid ye take £20 million ?”
“Naw ”
“How much ur ye wantin’ again ?”
“Nae less than £25 million ”
“Right leave it wae us…we’ll get back tae ye.”
“With just 18 days left in the transfer window it seems like activity is going to pick up with Celtic”
Aye, good luck with that.
Don’t you know it’s difficult to do business in the summer window.
Players don’t want to come to Scotland.
We couldn’t get deals over the line.
Use as you see fit.
It looks like Atalanta’s sale of Coopmeiners to Juventus is finally going to happen. This means Atalanta will push ahead with O’Riley at our original asking price. If so then we’d all like to think our club will bring in a few new as well as old faces before the deadline. As ever, we wait with baited breath.
This might just be me, but if I was a pro baller, regardless of who was offering what, I would be choosing the club I wanted to play for, not just going to the highest bidder. Surely the club can’t just sell u off like a lump of meat just cos its a few million more, and surely u wud rather play football for a club u want to be at not just who pays the most?
Matt O’Riley isn’t pushing for a move and Celtic have plenty of money in the bank, so there is absolutely no reason, other than pure greed for money on the part of the suits, to sell Matt this window, especially with Champions League football on the horizon.
At what point in time does that Board start showing some respect to the fans and ambition for the club by telling these vultures that our good players are NOT FOR SALE. If Matt goes then expect humiliation again in Europe, everything will default again to success over the blue rivals in the Scottish didy league and that’s as far as the vision will ever stretch for the Scrooges running Celtic. It’s depressing.
And one more thing while I’m on a rant: Scales has to be replaced with some quality before the window closes. He tries hard but is not Celtic material. European club wingers and strikers will have a field day if he’s at CB with the equally hard working but average Taylor. Big money needs to be spent to improve the quality of the team, as Brendan has said over and over again, yet it looks like the Board are set not only not to buy quality but to sell what quality we already have. It’s absolutely outrageous what goes on with this great club at Board level.
The Celtic board are not fans of the club. They are pure business men. 24/7 focused on the financials. There’s only one way to beat people like that but unfortunately for most Celtic fans that’s a step too far.!
Every player has his price, and IF a player wants to leave, there’s not a lot you
can do – BUT – in saying that:
the way the team played in the first half yesterday was a delight, and losing MOR
would have a major impact on the team, of course.
He’s got a few years on his contract and has not agitated for a move.
Even without quality signings [yet?] the team looks very promising and it would
be a sore one to lose MOR just as BR seems to have got the team playing
the way he wants?
And it does beg the question: is the Board even speaking to MOR to ensure
he stays [for another season anyway?], or are they just sitting back,
twiddling their thumbs, awaiting the highest bid ?
I’d bet that nobody [except BR?] has even considered persuading MOR
to stay at the club?
Bob,
It wouldn’t just be “a sore one” to lose Matt, it would the greatest act of self harm by that Board. Celtic will not be anywhere near the team they are now if they let Matt go and it will come back to haunt Celtic when they kick off the CL campaign. Brendan has been telling us endlessly how important it is to add quality to the squad. Well, no outfield quality has been added by the greedy Board as the window closing date rapidly approaches. Not only are they not adding quality, but seem content to sell the best quality player the team has right now. Something is very wrong with these people – their disdain for the fans and lack of ambition for the club is now screaming at us!