Respected journalist Alan Nixon has revealed Crystal Palace are trying to steal a lead on Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley.
Matt hasn’t even been at the club for 12 months yet, but since the summer, his name has constantly been in the papers’ rumour mill.
Nixon has great contacts within the game, the journalist claiming Palace scout Dougie Freedman has been compiling a dossier on the Celtic star and is pushing for the London club to test Celtic’s resolve come January. [SunSport]
O’Riley has become a permanent fixture within the Celtic team. Tom Rogic’s departure gave Matt a clear route to playing much more first team football.
Celtic signed the player for around £1.5m from MK Dons back in January 2022. It’s been a well-scouted bargain for the Scottish Champions.
Ange knows the score when it comes to his squad. If a bid comes in that is too good to turn down, he is powerless to stop any of his bhoys from leaving.
Celtic would demand a huge fee for the 21-year-old, who’s under contract until 2026. The same report claim Arsenal and Man Utd are also keeping an eye on Matt. The same report claims Celtic would maybe demand around £20m; that feels like more conjecture than anything.
For Celtic, they just need to make sure they have a succession plan for any first team player who ends up moving on.
The great thing is we wither keep Matt for longer, or a substantial fee would be received for the player to hopefully put back into the playing squad.
There’s no sign Matt is in a hurry to leave the club, but you can’t guarantee anything in football.
