The transfer speculation surrounding Celtic hero, Matt O’Riley, has ramped up this week after Atalanta joined the long list of suitors for the classy midfielder.
The Europa League winners are looking to bolster their squad for next season’s assault on the Champions League and put forward a £15m transfer proposal on Thursday.
Celtic rejected the bid as it falls way short of how they value their star player but there is no doubt that Atalanta will look to pursue this move and that is something I’ll get to later.
It’s what’s happening at Atletico Madrid this weekend that caught my eye as the La Liga club’s latest piece of transfer business could now open the door for them to return for another attempt at capturing the Danish international’s signature.
Saul Niguez ‘says goodbye’ to Atletico Madrid
Fabrizio Romano posted an update on Spanish international midfielder Saul on social media and said that he has bid farewell to his Atletico teammates to finalise his transfer to Sevilla this weekend.
So why does that have an impact on whether or not the Spanish club returns for O’Riley? You may remember how we discussed last month how a report from AS in Spain claimed that there was one condition that could prevent Atletico from making another bid for the Dane.
That condition was that Saul had to leave the club to allow a move for the Celtic midfielder to go ahead.
The 29-year-old was on an eye-watering contract of over £192,000 per week but it seems that his impending move to Sevilla is now all but complete and that, now, opens the door for Los Colchoneros to to come back on for O’Riley.
But that may not be as easy as it once could have been earlier in the season.
Italian report on Atalanta negotiations with O’Riley
As I said earlier in this piece, Atalanta has had an initial bid of £15m for O’Riley rejected by Celtic but the Serie A club have a key advantage.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport print edition page 14, ‘contacts with the player’s entourage have already been positive‘ despite there being a £10m ‘distance’ between Celtic and Atalanta in price for O’Riley.
The report also states that the first proposal had ‘three bonuses’ included in the initial proposal but whatever those were were clearly not enough for Celtic to allow their star player to leave just yet.
So whilst O’Riley remains a Celtic player for the moment, there could be a potential battle for his signature between Atalanta and Atletico which, when the time comes, should benefit the Parkhead club financially.
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