Inter Milan are considering a January move for Celtic midfielder Matt O'Riley; Serie A club are prepared to offer an initial loan until the end of the season with an obligation to buy him in the summer; 23-year-old has nine goals and eight assists in 24 games in all competitions
Friday 22 December 2023 17:05, UK
Inter Milan are considering a January move for Celtic midfielder Matt O'Riley.
The Serie A club are prepared to offer an initial loan until the end of the season with an obligation to buy him in the summer.
Inter are among an increasing number of top clubs sending scouts to watch O'Riley, amid an increase in his performance level again this season.
Aston Villa and West Ham have been watching him recently, as well as PSV Eindhoven and Atletico Madrid, and all of these clubs have been present for his Champions League appearances, in which he made three assists.
Inter are discussing whether to steal a march on potential rivals by making a move when the January transfer window begins, but it would take a record fee for Celtic to agree to any deal.
Their current record sale is around £25m for Jota from Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad last summer, which trumped the £23m they earned from Arsenal for Kieran Tierney in 2019.
Ahead of their Scottish Premiership match against Livingston Brendan Rodgers insisted he remained focused on adding to his squad in January.
"I don't have a fear on any of the players.
"I'm delighted for Matt that he's made a fantastic step forward this season as a Celtic player and in his career.
"That shows that focus and mentality in the training and the confidence that he's taking into the game, he'll always attract interest of teams.
"I don't have any fear, he's a good guy and he works very hard and when you do that you're always going to have interest that will come your way.
"For now he's very much focused on performing for Celtic and until the break.
"There's still such a long way to go. We were consistently good then in the last week or so we haven't been good enough, I can't be any more clear on that.
"We want to add to the squad rather than take any away and the likes of Matt is a very important player for us.
O'Riley recently broke into the Denmark national team. In his first 24 games of the season in all competitions he has scored nine goals and notched eight assists.
In September, the 23-year-old ended contract speculation by agreeing a new deal with Celtic.
O'Riley committed his future until 2027 after the club turned down a £10m bid from Leeds United in the summer.
Speaking after Celtic's 2-1 win at Hearts in October, Sky Sports' Kris Boyd said O'Riley would be "one of the next ones to go in terms of big money":
"Celtic have got this knack of bringing players in, giving them a platform to go and perform. They then go and move them on for big money.
"Matt O'Riley will be one of the next ones to go in terms of big money.
"Last season, everyone was raving about his assists, and rightly so, but there was always the doubt about whether he could add goals. He's doing that now.
"You could sit and watch Matt O'Riley play football all day. He's a top-class player. He glides about the pitch and Brendan Rodgers has obviously asked him to get forward more this season. He is reaping the benefits of that."
The transfer window opens on Monday January 1, 2024 and will close at 11pm on Thursday February 1, 2024.
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