VIRGINIA, USA - JULY 17: Matt O'Riley during a Celtic training session at The George Mason Stadium, on July 17, 2024, in Virginia, USA. (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Brighton are reported to have come really close to Celtic’s valuation on Matt O’Riley.
The midfielder has been the subject of intense speculation throughout the summer with clubs from Italy, Spain and England linked with the 23-year-old.
Last night’s report came from Alfredo Pedulla who was looking at the issue from an Atalanta angle with the Europa League holders reported to have made three bids for O’Riley.
Alfredo Pedulla reports:
Matt O’Riley, Celtic ‘s jewel , is increasingly destined to leave his current club. He is a target of Atalanta , as we have reported several times, but in the last few hours Percassi’s club has had to dedicate itself to other matters (Retegui) due to Scamacca’s serious injury.
Brighton, which has great financial availability, has always targeted O’Riley and in the last few hours has reportedly presented an offer of 25 million plus 4 bonuses which is really close to what the Scottish club has always asked for the 2000-born player. A piece of news that will certainly not please Atalanta, we will see if a deal will be reached in the next few hours.
Most Celtic fans expected bidding for O’Riley to start around £25m but it seems more likely that that figure will be the highest amount.
After two and a half seasons at Celtic that has saw him lift six trophies and play in two Champions League campaigns O’Riley’s move from MK Dons has worked out as well as the player and club could have hoped for.
If O’Riley did move to Brighton it is unlikely that that would be his final destination, it wouldn’t be any surprise if he was to follow the path of Virgil van Dijk with a follow on move to a Champions League club which would make the sell on clause highly important to Celtic.
With 370,000 Twitter followers Pedulla seems a very credible source.
L’indiscrezione: #ORiley rilancio #Brighton: 25 milioni più bonus https://t.co/btSky79LBx
— Alfredo Pedullà (@AlfredoPedulla) August 7, 2024
Usual celtic sell our best players and bring none in its time the fans woke up to they RATS on the board honest they think of themselves big bonuses who next to go Hatate probably eh.
We’ll immediately pay £8M fur Idah, £5M on a LB, £5M fur CH & £7M fur 3rd striker.. Aye like Fuk we will!!
It’s inevitable that he would move on, we have to accept that. What we don’t have to accept is making no new outfield signings (finalising Bernardo’s ‘loan to buy’ doesn’t count), dragging our heels on the essential signing of a striker and improving the squad overall with some first team ready players to bolster a threadbare unit of only about 15 or 16 starters – the rest are leftover project-standard dross we are unable to get rid of. All while sitting on a mountain of money, as we watch the unlikely sight of Sevco commando-crawling towards the Champions League bounty, which unlike us they will spend on their team……
There’s a saying that History repeats itself…Welcome to the world of Celtic…where History repeats itself …again !!
We should be holding on to O’Reilly for another year – he’ll be worth even more then.
Selling him at this point, when we have no chance of replacing him with anyone anywhere near as good, flies in the face of Rodgers stating that he needs more quality in the team & wants to have a real tilt at Europe.
It makes no sense … unless greedy Lawwell is intent in undermining Rodgers yet again
I broadly agree that with the length of contract we certainly have no need to sell MO’R this summer, but with the ‘broken snooker table’ economics of professional football, how can you justify preventing a 24 year old from becoming a multimillionaire virtually overnight in a precarious career where you are one snapped bone from being finished altogether and retraining as something else, having sacrificed much of your education for football? The short answer is you can’t, and ought not to, stand in their way.
What we should do however is get the maximum fee from cash-rich Brighton (or whoever), baking in a taste of his future value too in terms of pushing the envelope with the sell-on clause percentage. And – crucially – spending some of that feckin’ money to replace him and improve the team!!!
You and Terence and everyone on this are spot on about this board,they sell our best players buy in dross,we get humped and made a laughing stock in Europe and it’s the same every season.My question is what is the managers take on this ,is he happy to let big Pete liewell shaft him ,and Desmond his so called big mate happy for this to happen,I can’t understand what’s going on with Rodgers as he bolted the last time the rug was pulled out from under him,what pish was he told and believed this time round was going to be any different it certainly looks even worse.If a decent offer come in for Hatate liewell would sell him as well and it would be tough luck Brendan you knew what you were getting into but hey you’re on 3 million so just shut up and live with it.
Yes Jim – gotta wonder just what assurances Rodgers got from Desmond who apparently, personally, got him to come back and why Rodgers is letting control freak Lawwell undermine him yet again.
How on earth Rodgers says one thing and lets Lawwell do the opposite without kicking off with Desmond is mind-boggling – unless it is happening behind the scenes but there’s certainly no sign of Lawwell being reined in.
Says it all …
https://medium.com/@lundy11111/there-is-some-discussion-some-of-it-heated-amongst-our-fans-right-now-over-who-is-to-blame-for-02bb358c99fe
Why has there not been any bids from Stevens team ?
Is it sky teams only
Cambuslang is brighter than Brighton.
Matt is staying with celtic.
Provi checks are real ¿
There is absolutely no justification for selling O’Riley this season, none whatsoever. If that Board sell him at a time when the team is about to embark on Champions League duty then everyone should know for sure that this is a Board that has zero ambition for the club in Europe. This sale, if it happens, will be definitive and final for anyone still harbouring doubts that the Board is not interested in European success for Celtic. If Brendan lets Matt leave without a fight then I think we can more or less say he’s fully in tune with the Board, despite the blarney. They can never replace him and they won’t even try, we all know that.
But Keith Jackson ( who coincidently has stopped his tireless campaigning for Shankland to the Huns now they’ve played Hearts ) says no talks held
Keith Jackson is a PATHOLOGICAL LIAR certainly with what’s reported on here about him Harold !
Pleased for Lawwell…
Nobody wanted out money in the past. I just hope it’s not a case of nobody wants our players in the future!
You can only push parsimony so far.
Then you get found out!