Brighton have agreed a deal in precept for Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley.
The transfer will set a brand new document switch payment acquired by a Scottish membership which stands at £25m following Jota’s transfer from Celtic to Al Ittihad final summer time.
Celtic had beforehand rejected 5 bids from Atalanta for O’Riley – who scored 19 targets and contributed 18 assists final season – with the Italian membership’s highest supply being £21.5m plus add-ons.
The 23-year-old Denmark worldwide was underneath contract at Celtic till 2027, with the membership additionally knocking again a proposal of £20m from Atletico Madrid in January.
Brighton have already made some huge cash additions this summer time with the £40m signing of ahead Georginio Rutter and midfielder Brajan Gruda becoming a member of for round £25m.
Why Celtic’s loss is Brighton’s achieve
O’Riley moved to Celtic from MK Dons in January 2022
Sky Sports activities’ Sahil Jaidka and Alison Conroy:
A lot of the dialog round O’Riley’s transfer from Celtic to Brighton might be linked to cash.
It’s understood the transfer will set a brand new document payment acquired by a Scottish Premiership membership, surpassing Celtic’s £25m gross sales of Jota and Kieran Tierney.
Nonetheless, don’t be fooled into pondering simply cash issues to O’Riley.
The Denmark worldwide is level-headed and pushed by bettering as a participant – not bettering his wages.
After coming by way of the Fulham academy, he turned down a contract extension at his boyhood membership. As an alternative, he educated in London parks together with his dad for six months earlier than becoming a member of MK Dons.
It was a calculated transfer by O’Riley, and one which paid off. He scored 10 targets and created eight assists throughout his breakthrough in senior soccer on the then-League One membership.
O’Riley joined Celtic from MK Dons for £1.5m
Consequently, groups from throughout the Premier League, Championship and Europe famous an curiosity within the midfielder. Nonetheless, it was a transfer to Celtic that caught his consideration in January 2022, however why was that £1.5m swap proper for him?
He mentioned: “I wouldn’t just join a club if they paid me a certain amount of money if the style wasn’t right. I’m not that kind of guy.”
O’Riley made an instantaneous affect with two assists in his opening 4 video games, earlier than scoring his first Celtic objective in a win over Aberdeen.
The 23-year-old by no means appeared again. In the course of the subsequent marketing campaign, he completed with 14 assists and 4 targets, after which final season was the one which noticed him develop into Celtic’s most important man.
He supplied targets and assists in abundance, with Celtic agreeing a brand new four-year cope with the participant final September to make sure they might command a document payment when he determined it was time to maneuver on.
When O’Riley completed the season with 19 targets and 18 assists, it was little shock he then picked up the membership’s participant of the yr, gamers’ participant of the yr and younger participant of the yr awards.
O’Riley sealed a clear sweep of membership awards at Celtic final season
Not solely does O’Riley present targets, he creates huge probabilities for his team-mates and has confirmed he’s a participant who can deal with the large event.
Brighton may have one eye on breaking into European competitors underneath Fabian Hurzeler – and O’Riley’s presence may support that push.
He has already proven he can impress on the most important stage – including two assists to his spectacular numbers final season throughout Celtic’s disappointing Champions League group-stage marketing campaign.
In addition to the suitable mindset and excellent potential – he additionally has a winner’s mindset. O’Riley will depart Celtic with six main honours – three league titles, two Scottish Cups and one League Cup. The Seagulls will hope he might help convey silverware to the seaside.
How will Celtic supervisor Brendan Rodgers look to exchange O’Riley?
The query for Celtic is how do they exchange somebody who has made such an affect? They might want to go into the switch marketplace for a tried and examined attacking midfielder to fill that big O’Riley-shaped gap within the Parkhead dressing room.
Brighton’s achieve is most actually Celtic’s loss.
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