Barry Ferguson is adamant that 23-year-old Celtic player is a contender for SPFL Player of the Year

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We’re at that time of the year when the prizes are being handed out and normally, Celtic are at the forefront of that.

Unfortunately, the League Cup is gone but there is still the possibility of achieving a double as long as Brendan Rodgers can get his Celtic team back firing on all cylinders.

After the 7-1 rout of Dundee, the Celtic fans thought we may have been there but this season has been a bit stop/start and that has been down to the number of injuries and out-of-form players we have had this season.

However, there is one Celtic player that Barry Ferguson is adamant is in with a shout to win the SPFL Player of the Year this season despite his recent drop in form.

Discussing with Andy Walker, both pundits were speaking about the award when Ferguson was 100% sure that Matt O’Riley would be in there at the end of the season.

Ferguson said [The Go Radio Football Show], “Is it normally four players who are nominated? I would go [Matt] O’Riley, [Lawrence] Shankland, [John] Lundstram and [Jack] Butland.”

Walker goes on to name Luke McGowan, Blair Spittal, possibly Lennon Miller and Bojan Miovski but the former Rangers hero was having none of it.

Ferguson was adamant when he said, “That’s the four for me. Lundstram, O’Riley, Butland and Shankland.”

Matt O’Riley’s outstanding Celtic form

The Celtic midfielder has suffered a drop in form recently but no one can deny just how brilliant he has been and how important he is for the team.

Since his £1.5m move from MK Dons, O’Riley has been an ever-present in this Celtic team for the past three years, but despite his recent poor form, the 23-year-old has still been superb overall.

Rated an astonishing 8.00 for the season so far by Fotmob, O’Riley’s overall consistency has been excellent. He is rated higher than all of Celtic’s current first-team.

With 11 goals and nine assists in the league, O’Riley has been one of Celtic’s best attacking threats this season.

Averaging 80 touches per game, O’Riley has a passing accuracy of 83%. His long ball accuracy sits nicely at just over 64% and he also creates 2.33 chances per game.

O’Riley has also had 3.06 shots on target with at least one hitting the target over his 28 league appearances.

Defensively, the Denmark midfielder also puts in a shift. O’Riley makes 4.96 duels per game, winning over 54% of them.

Winning 52% of his tackles, his industry to help break down the opposition attacks is brilliant for an attacking midfielder.

O’Riley for Player of the Year? He would certainly have my vote.

In other news, ‘Excellent’ player must surely regret leaving Celtic now, he could be relegated