Matt O’Riley’s Celtic future is one that has been grabbing the majority of the headlines this summer as the midfielder attracts the attention of clubs in Europe’s top leagues.
Atalanta were aggressively pursuing the Denmark international but after having five bids booted out by Celtic, the Serie A side have cooled their interest.
Southampton were also reportedly looking to make a Scottish-record bid for Matt O’Riley in July but since then their interest has cooled.
However, Brighton has emerged as the front-runner for the Celtic midfielder and has made a formal bid for O’Riley and now, their CEO, Paul Barber, has spoken out for the first time about the Premier League club’s interest in the Dane.
Brighton looking to ‘strengthen’ squad
Barber was asked directly by Jim White about Brighton’s interest in O’Riley as the talkSPORT presenter probed on how close a deal was to being struck with Celtic for their star player.
Barber told White on talkSPORT, “Well I don’t want to talk about other club’s players Jim, that wouldn’t be appropriate.
“But you know, we’re always looking to try and strengthen our squad where we can.
“And we’ve done a lot of work this summer to try and give Fabian Hurzeler the best chance of doing well in the Premier League this year.
“Lots of clubs are investing in their squads and improving their squads, and we know it’s going to be another very competitive season.”
With less than two weeks of the transfer window left to go, Brendan Rodgers does seem like he will need to fight to keep a hold of O’Riley.
With Celtic said to be wanting £30m for the midfielder, the Parkhead club seem to be standing firm to ensure they get the fee that they value O’Riley at.
This story looks set to run until either a move is made or until the transfer window closes but it does seem that this will not be the last the Celtic fans will be hearing of Brighton’s pursuit for their Celtic hero.
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