Matt O'Riley

If we play this one right, we begrudgingly sell MoR for over £30m, reinvest the money and complete Scottish fitba forever....

 

A couple of them are like that, I'd say most are quite positive about O'Riley.

 

Hope this shows good sense of humour mate...
Over £30M? - very unlikely, but you never know...

Reinvest the money? - not a feckin chance

 

I would rather we lost MOR on a free transfer than bring a fortune in for the board to just sit on it.

 

Am sure you'd be perfectly calm if we let him go for nothing

 

Southampton are £10 million short of the fee Celtic want for Matt O’Riley with Premier League rivals West Ham United, Everton, Fulham and Brentford having held talks with the Denmark international.

HITC understands that Celtic, if they are to cash in on their Player of the Year, want a fee that would make Matt O’Riley the club’s all-time most expensive export



Portuguese winger Jota currently holds that place in the Hoops history books. The former Benfica man left for Saudi Arabia in a deal worth around £25 million last summer.

Celtic are now holding out for £30 million for O’Riley.


And HITC have been told that Southampton and the Scottish Premiership champions remain around £10 million apart in their valuation of the talented playmaker, with the newly-promoted Saints hoping to secure O’Riley’s services for closer to £20 million.




There is no shortage of interest elsewhere in England’s top flight.

West Ham United, Everton and Brentford have all held talks. So too have a Fulham side with whom O’Riley stated his career. The Hounslow-born schemer joined The Cottagers’ academy back in 2009 but made only five first-team appearances before joining MK Dons over a decade later.

O’Riley, then, may potentially feel he has unfinished business at Fulham



Southampton, meanwhile, will be hoping the Russell Martin factor works in their favour.

Martin, the man who guided The Saints to play-off final glory over Leeds at Wembley, worked with O’Riley at MK Dons and made no secret of his desire to reunite with the 23-year-old during his time in the Swansea City dugout.


Wow. What a technician,” Martin told Sky Sports, recalling the first day he saw O’Riley in action.

“He was incredible. We played Spurs in pre-season and he was outstanding against them. We went and played at Rochdale on a Tuesday night. It was freezing and the pitch was an ice rink, but Matt put on a masterclass


Myself and my staff left for Swansea and we tried to bring him there. It was a very sad moment for me when the deal we tried to do fell down. But then he went to Celtic and he’s just kept on progressing. And I’m not surprised.

“It’s his mentality that sets him apart. He’s supremely confident and a super pro; his diet is spot on, and he’s really athletic, more than he is given credit for. He’s got everything to play at the top – for Denmark and in the Premier League.”





Southampton’s interest, meanwhile, long precedes Martin’s arrival at St Mary’s. Southampton were keen back in January 2022, when Celtic won the race to the tune of a bargain £1.5 million. The Glasgow giants are now in line for a massive profit.

If the play-off champions are to avoid lightning striking twice, they may have to put their money where their mouth is and stump up closer to the £30 million fee Brendan Rodgers’ side want.


Sources have also told HITC there is also interest in O’Riley from Atalanta, Monaco, Lyon and an Atletico Madrid side who attempted to sign O’Riley in January, shortly after his sparkling display against Diego Simeone’s side in the Champions League group-stages.

O’Riley ended 2023/24 with a staggering 19 goals and 18 assists in all competitions.

It was a major surprise, then, when he was left out of Denmark’s squad for Euro 2024 despite manager Kasper Hjulmand lauding his progress

 

Over those dirty greedy tramps in charge of us hoarding the money then 100% yes.

 

That's just nonsense. Just let all our players go for free then shall we?

 

Aye OK pal

 

Yeah * the board and their own greedy agenda.

Let them play out their contract. That way we would have a reason to act like a tin pot club when it comes to transfers.

Board acting like we are skint with every penny a * prisoner while we are in the best financial position in our history.

 

We don't need to sell him (I know we will but we don't need to)..

30 or * off. I'm pretty sure we can get that..

 

We should EASILY be requesting £30m+ for MoR.

We NEED to reinvest that money, but aye yer right.....we won't

 

Everton look to be in front on this one

 

100%. Absolutely lost their way as a club since Moyes left.

 

Or keep him for another season and get more next.

 

Only beer to look back a few years to see what happens when we keep players longer than they want to be here.

£30m is the absolute top end you will ever get for a player in spfl regardless of what he did this season.

Business model is built on us selling guys like MOR now.

 

Brentford just signed a striker from Brugge for £30m, we should be holding out on this one.. bidding war would be perfect.