Celtic face relentless bidder, 25y/o Rangers man to leave, £7m striker exit - Scottish transfers wrap

Atalanta’s O’Riley chase goes on

Atalanta's protracted chase of Celtic midfielder Matt O'Riley looks set to continue this week, with the Italian outfit readying a fifth bid for the 23-year-old. The Serie A side have so far failed with repeated offers for O'Riley, but it is understood that they will come back to the table with more money.

Whether that will be enough to get the green light from Celtic is another matter, though. So far Atalanta have not come close to the Scottish champions' asking price - believed to be in the region of £25 million - and Celtic are aware that their Italian counterparts are likely to rake in more than £50m for their own midfielder Teun Koopmeiners, who is wanted by Juventus.

Atalanta want to get a deal struck soon as they are aware that clubs in England have O'Riley on their radar. Chelsea, Brighton and Southampton have all been linked with the Dane during this transfer window, while Atletico Madrid had a bid rejected for him in January.

The transfer speculation does not appear to be fazing O'Riley, who once again put in an excellent performance for Celtic at the weekend as they defeated Hibs 2-0 in the Premiership on Sunday to sit top of the league after two rounds of fixtures.

Wanted Celtic midfielder Matt O'Riley played in the 2-0 win over Hibs. | SNS Group

Rangers exit close

Another departure is expected at Rangers this week, with Ecuadorian midfielder Jose Cifuentes heavily linked with a move to Aris Thessaloniki. A summer transfer signing last season, the 25-year-old has struggled to break into current manager Philippe Clement's plans and is not part of the first-team picture.

Cifuentes spent the first part of 2024 on loan in Brazil with Cruzeiro and now the ex-Los Angeles FC man is poised to spend this campaign in Greece with Aris, who have reportedly booked a medical for today for the player. However, Greek outlet Sport 24 is claiming that Rangers will cover the majority of Cifuentes' wages.

Jose Cifuentes is way out of the first-team picture at Rangers. | SNS Group

Miovski waves goodbye

In-demand Aberdeen striker Bojan Miovski is moving closer to the Pittodrie exit door after he waved goodbye to the Dons fans after Sunday's 3-1 home win over St Mirren. The North Macedonian came on as a late sub during the Premiership victory and was in tears at the full-time whistle as he said his farewell to supporters in the Red Shed.

Miovski has been in talks with Spanish La Liga side Girona - who will play Champions League football this term - and a move for the 25-year-old appears very close, with a club-record fee of £7m mooted. Aberdeen play Queen's Park at home on Saturday in the Premier Sports Cup, but Miovski's actions did not suggest he would be in the north-east to take part.

Bojan Miovski said his farewells to the Aberdeen support. | SNS Group

On the current situation with Miovski, Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin said: "There is strong interest in him but still he is here so I can’t see anything. We have a squad but I don’t want to speculate. We can’t say what is happening in the future but there was a lot of emotions today. We have a strong dialogue all the time. When he went in he was ready."