Anthony Joseph has claimed that Southampton and Leeds United are interested in Matt O’Riley.
It would be a shock if either club wasn’t interested in the Celtic midfielder, what is more relevant is whether O’Riley would be interested in moving to a Championship club.
After winning two SPFL titles at Celtic and experiencing one Champions League campaign stepping down to the slog of 46 Championship matches is unlikely to hold much attraction to the Danish u-21 internationalist.
Following a successful switch from MK Dons in League One to Celtic if O’Riley is looking for a move his minimum requirement would be to go to an EPL club.
Leeds United and Southampton are interested in Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley.
(@SkySportsLyall)#LUFC #SaintsFCpic.twitter.com/2ofWQyGofD
— Anthony Joseph (@AnthonyRJoseph) August 29, 2023
There could well be other clubs and agents interested in taking O’Riley back to England but having sold Jota and Carl Starfelt and saw Aaron Mooy retire the last thing that Celtic need is to lose another starter in the final days of the transfer window.
Celtic certainly don’t need extra money with a healthy profit already realised from the summer transfer window to follow on from the statement to the Stock Market last month of higher than expected income.
O’Riley is under contract until June 2026 which puts him in the same bracket as Reo Hatate and Liel Abada.
All three arrived at Celtic as emerging talents on fairly modest wages yet have played a huge part in the successes of the last two seasons.
Pay rises are merited but with three years still to run on their contracts it is unlikely that any of the players will be in a rush to commit themselves further.
One solution could be to extend their contracts with a get-out price point, Celtic took advantage of that to sign O’Riley for £1.5m in January 2022.
