Brighton test Celtic's Matt O'Riley resolve with new bid - and why move to south coast could be a goer

Brighton and Hove Albion are the latest club to test Celtic's resolve on Matt O'Riley after the English Premier League club was reported to have made a bid for the playmaker.

O'Riley has become one of the most sought-after players in the Scottish Premiership this year, with Atletico Madrid failing to land him in January before Atalanta put in a series of bids of the 23-year-old over the past few weeks, all of which have been rejected. However, according to Sky Sports, the Seagulls tabled an offer for the Denmark internationalist on Monday and now they and Celtic are locked in negotiations over a fee for the player.

Celtic are understood to value O'Riley in the region of £25 million and hope to make a substantial profit on a player they bought from MK Dons for £1.5m in 2022. He is vital to Celtic’s midfield and helped them land both the Premiership title and Scottish Cup last season. Despite all the transfer speculation surrounding him, O'Riley has started all of Celtic's matches this season and remains an integral part of manager Brendan Rodgers' team.

Brighton have made a bid for Celtic's Matt O'Riley. | SNS Group

Serie A side Atalanta had identified O'Riley as the ideal replacement for Juventus-bound midfielder Teun Koopmeiners, but have been reluctant to hit Celtic's asking price and this weekend brought in an attacking midfielder in the shape of Lazar Samardzic from Udinese, which could have potential implications on their chase for O'Riley. The Bergamo outfit begin their Serie A campaign this evening against Lecce.

It now appears that Brighton, under their new head coach Fabian Hürzeler, have assumed pole position in the race to land O'Riley. Their south-coast rivals Southampton and English Premier League rivals Chelsea have also been credited in an interest in the player, who has three years left on his contract at Celtic Park, but a move to the Amex Stadium would make a lot of sense for O'Riley. They play a possession-based style of football and have vacancies in their midfield following the summer exit of Pascal Gross to Borussia Dortmund.

A potential O'Riley exit could coincide with the departure of Scotland midfielder Billy Gilmour, who has been heavily linked with Napoli over the past week. Gilmour played nine minutes as a late substitute in Brighton's 3-0 EPL opener against Everton and faces a battle to break into Hürzeler's starting XI.