The noise around Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley has been fierce over the last few months after a very impressive 2023/24 season with the club.
O’Riley was the stand-out spark in the Bhoys attack, scoring an impressive 19 goals as well as assisting 18 more. Teams couldn’t handle him in the Scottish competitions and he fared well in the UEFA Champions League too.
It’s all led to teams positioning themselves for his signature this summer as Celtic weigh up what kind of bid would be required to let him go.
Southampton and Atalanta are said to have tabled firm offers but they have been well below Celtic’s valuation of over £25m.
Celtic captain Callum McGregor is eager for O’Riley to stay and reckons if he signs up for another 12 months then the club can still get a big fee for him down the line.
Callum McGregor on Matt O’Riley transfer talk
The midfielder said from the USA [Daily Record]: “We’d love him to stay, for sure. Listen, he’s a hugely important player for us. He was important last year and hopefully that will be the case again this year.
“The club has him on a long contract. There’s no reason why we can’t keep him. Even if we keep him for another 12 months he could still be sold for good money.
“Let’s hope that’s how it works out. It’s another year here, another maybe eight or 10 games in the Champions League for him to learn and get even better. We hope we can keep him and don’t see why not. But obviously that’s above my pay grade.”
Nicolas Kuhn also wants O’Riley to stay
After destroying the Man City defence in the first half of Tuesday night’s friendly, winger Nicolas Kuhn also expressed his desire for O’Riley to stay on.
He said: “I will tell Matt that he has to stay! I want him to be here, of course. I know, everyone knows there are a lot of teams interested in him. That is to be expected after last season. It had to be.
“But I have a good connection with him. It’s good. You could see the combinations we had against Manchester City the other night and the chances he created. It worked well and I love playing with him. He can stay with us for the Champions League and maybe go next year.”
Keeping O’Riley around would be a massive boost for the Bhoys but there’s still over a month of the transfer window left, so it could become increasingly difficult to keep teams from upping the money and luring him away from Glasgow.
But if the players have hope, fans should too. It’s not a guarantee we’ll be waving goodbye to him next month.
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