Matt O’Riley could have been an Atletico Madrid player if the Spanish side had put in a January bid of £25m for the midfielder.
That is the claim from Tipsbladet who report that an offer of an initial loan followed by a committment to pay £18m in the summer was rejected by the Celtic board.
Just over two years ago Celtic paid £1.5m to sign O’Riley from MK Dons, now it seems that they are in line for a massive profit when the Danish internationalist follows the well trodden path of emerging talent out of Celtic.
With Reo Hatate injured and little happening in the way of January recruitment selling O’Riley would have been a body blow to Celtic’s hopes of winning any honours this season.
Danish website Tipsbladet has revealed:
According to Tipsbladet’s information, the bid included that Atletico Madrid had to hire Matt O’Riley in the spring in order to commit to buying him on a free transfer this summer for 18 million pounds – 156 million kroner.
But it did not happen. Cause?
That Celtic has valued Matt O’Riley much higher and therefore rejected the bid with a demand that they would only sell the 23-year-old profile for 25 million pounds, which is 217 million kroner, which Atlético Madrid, according to Tipsbladet’s sources, did not respond to.
After his outstanding form in the first part of the season O’Riley’s standards have dropped over the last couple of matches with some fans blaming that on the distraction of the Atletico offer.
His performances in the Champions League brought him to the attention of a bigger audience with Inter Milan strongly linked with making a January move.
A summer transfer looks likely but the offers to the player and Celtic will be more attractive if the hoops can retain the SPFL Premiership title and the Scottish Cup.
With those targets and a place in the Danish squad at the European Championships in Germany to aim for there are no shortage of incentives for O’Riley with 11 Premiership and possibly three Scottish Cup ties still to be played.
A year ago the former MK Dons man had been eased out of the Celtic side by Aaron Mooy but alongside Callum McGregor he has been a fixture on Brendan Rodgers’ team-sheet.
Strangely there seems to be little in the way of interest from English sides in the former Fulham Academy graduate, despite his Danish international career O’Riley would count as one of the four English developed players required in the 25 man squads allowed by UEFA.
CLICK HERE for Nawrocki injury blow.
CLICK HERE for O’Riley’s appearances and stats for this season.
