Celtic are reported to be ‘now more open to negotiating’ over the transfer of Matt O’Riley to Atletico Madrid.
The Spanish side made a loan to buy offer for the midfielder in January but the fee offered and situation in the SPFL title race ensured that the offer was rejected.
After a brief dip in form O’Riley was quickly back to his best, playing a key role in delivering the SPFL title and Scottish Cup for Celtic.
Although he extended his Celtic contract last September there is a degree of inevitability that the midfielder will move on during the summer transfer window, possibly for a club record fee of over £25m.
Without O’Riley Atletico reached the last eight of the Champions League and finished their domestic season in fourth place, ensuring another season of Champions League football.
Looking to strengthen their squad for next season Mundo Deportivo reports:
Well, facing the next season, Wieffer (24 years old) and O’Riley (23 years old) are once again on Atlético de Madrid’s agenda. The two assumed in January that the opportunity to make the leap was complicated but they also know since then that the mattress club was going to try again in the summer.
Unlike what happened a few months ago, both Feyenoord and Celtic are now more open to negotiating. So they did not want to lose a basic piece in their teams with the season started unless the offer was high, which it was not.
Atlético de Madrid searched, without success, for a ‘5’ last summer. And this summer he will do it again. It is a priority for Diego Simeone and he has made it known again to the sports management ( Andrea Berta ) and the football management ( Carlos Bucero ).
Aware of this need, the rojiblancos launched themselves in the winter market for a midfielder. They played Matts Wieffer and Matt O’Riley . They presented offers to Feyenoord and Celtic of around 20 million euros, which were rejected and Arthur Vermeeren ended up arriving. Antwerp did accept the Colchoneros’ proposal and the Belgian flew to the Metropolitano .
His youth and lack of knowledge of the language played against him and he hardly counted for Cholo although when he played he showed good manners. In fact, he has been called up by Belgium to play in the Euro Cup and coach Tedesco has stated that he is the future of the team.
Later on the report added:
Unlike what happened a few months ago, both Feyenoord and Celtic are now more open to negotiating. So they did not want to lose a basic piece in their teams with the season started unless the offer was high, which it was not.
Atlético really likes both players, although obviously only one would arrive . Both the Dutchman and the Dane made a great impression in the duels they played last year against the Colchonero team in the Champions League.
While it will be a disappointment to see O’Riley move on his development reinforces the way that Celtic have to operate in the transfer market.
The concern is how the transfer fee is reinvested.
After selling Moussa Dembele in 2018 Celtic frittered the fee away on Vakoun Bayo, Patryk Klimala and Albian Ajeti before they signed Kyogo Furuhashi.
A year after Dembele was sold Kieran Tierney moved to Arsenal with Boli Bolingoli and Greg Taylor signed, Diego Laxalt arriving on a costly loan before Ange Postecoglou returned to Taylor. Two years ago £3.5m was spend on Alexandro Bernabei.
Brendan Rodgers appears to have taken control of Recruitment following the departure of Mark Lawwell, signing a midfielder to step into O’Riley’s place could be as tough as finding Joe Hart’s successor.
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