Matt O’Riley leaving is inevitable, Celtic recruitment plans need to be ambitious

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The Celtic Star

·14 May 2024

Matt O’Riley leaving is inevitable, Celtic recruitment plans need to be ambitious

It’s inevitable that Matt O’Riley will leave Celtic this summer. The club has just got to make sure that they replace him with a player of similar quality…

Matt O’Riley of Celtic controls the ball during the Celtic vs St Mirren Cinch Premiership match at Celtic Park on May 20, 2023 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It’s no surprise to learn that Matt O’Riley is attracting attention from clubs down south and further afield around Europe as he’s such a talented player.

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Fresh on from winning the young player and senior player of the year accolades at Sunday night’s Celtic Player of the Year awards in the Hydro, it’s been reported that Matt is being heavily pursued by two top six EPL sides, as well as Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid.

An £18m bid was knocked back from Atletico back in January and the La Liga side still remain keen on the midfielder’s signature this coming summer.

But Diego Simone’s side like every other interested party will have to stump up a hefty sum to secure the Denmark international’s signature.

We are talking in the £25-£30 million bracket, nothing less will suffice if Matt is to leave Celtic Park. The club after all hold all the aces as Matt just recently signed a contract extension, so if they accepted anything less it would be sheer incompetence. That’s not going to happen though as Celtic may well reach a £30m transfer fee for the first time.

Matt O’Riley with the PlayStation Player Of The Match award after the draw in the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic and Atletico Madrid at Celtic Park on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Jan Kruger – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

When Matt inevitably does leave the club, any fee must be used to heavily invest in a player or a similar quality. If that’s going to cost us between £8 -£12 million then so be it.

No ‘bargain buys’ or ‘project’ players are going to cut it. We have the means and it’s time we used them if we want to be successful. We’ve got to replace like with like.

Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic, waves to fans as he steps off the coach prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and theRangers at Celtic Park on May 11, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

And the board owe it to Brendan Rodgers to back him in the transfer market this summer after he patently worked with their project signing signing from last summer but not a single one made the grade for an involvement at the weekend against theRangers.

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Matt O’Riley leaving is inevitable, Celtic recruitment plans need to be ambitious | OneFootball

Matt O’Riley leaving is inevitable, Celtic recruitment plans need to be ambitious

It’s inevitable that Matt O’Riley will leave Celtic this summer. The club has just got to make sure that they replace him with a player of similar quality…

OneFootball Videos

IT’S FATHER’S DAY ON SUNDAY 16 JUNE – BUY ANY BOOK AND RECEIVE A SIGNED COPY OF INVINCIBLE

ORDER ANY OF OUR BOOKS AT CELTICSTARBOOKS.COM AND YOU’LL RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF INVINCIBLE, SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR MATT CORR.

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