Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley is already showing his commitment to Denmark as he attempts to carry out all of his media duties in Danish.
The Hoops star is clearly impressing Danish under-21 coach Jesper Sorensen already. And it comes ahead of a huge clash against Belgium in the Euro U21 qualifiers later today.
Indeed, O’Riley will be hoping to make his debut for the Danish youngsters this afternoon. The former MK Dons man appears fully committed to the Danish cause despite also being eligible to feature for England.
And under-21 coach Sorensen has outlined how impressed he’s been with O’Riley and his attempts to integrate into the squad. As quoted by Tipsbladet, he said: “He is a thoughtful, pleasant young man who reflects a lot and has a steely will. He does a lot to integrate as well as possible in the squad.”
Indeed, O’Riley explained to Tipsbladet why he’s carrying out his media duties in Danish despite not being fully fluent,
“I do not want to be the type who comes in and then just speaks English. I do my best to learn and understand Danish. I want my Danish language again, so I do not forget the things I once learned. Sometimes I can not say what I think and it’s wildly annoying. But it has already gotten better during the week I’ve been here”
Matt O’Riley already making an impression with Denmark
Given he arrived in January, we’ve now had a strong taster of Matt O’Riley and the personality he has. And it’s fair to say the above certainly isn’t surprising.
O’Riley’s work ethic is absolutely fantastic. He’s studious and has always appeared keen to learn more about Denmark. It’s something that appears to fascinate him given his heritage.
It would be so easy for Matt to simply do his media duties in English with minimal fuss. A lot of players do when they arrive in foreign countries. Many don’t make much of an effort to learn the language needed to communicate with their teammates effectively.
But O’Riley appears to have a different mindset here. He’s showing the ultimate respect not only to his country but to his teammates too. It really does speak volumes of his character.
Regardless, it’s on the field where his talking will need to be at its loudest. It’ll be interesting to see whether he’s done enough since January to be thrown straight into the starting line-up. It would be extremely surprising if he doesn’t receive any minutes at all in truth.
Hopefully it turns out to be a big day for him. He’s certainly putting the work in off the pitch at least.
In other news, Celtic must ignore title foes’ injury talk; we all know what’s going to happen
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