The rather unlikely rumour of Chelsea interest in Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley came up today, with the idea that Conor Gallagher is going to leave and will need to be replaced.
O’Riley certainly has blossomed into an excellent player. He got an incredible 37 goals and assists in all competitions last season, and is attracting attention from a number of teams now. Transfermarkt rate him at €20m, but at the moment it feels like it would take a much bigger sum than that given he’s 23 and starting to pick up Denmark caps. His latest contract was agreed less than a year ago and has three years left to run, so there’s no real bargain to be had here.
The big red flag and asterisk over all of this is that those goals and assists came playing for Celtic team who dominate almost every game they play in the league. Without doubt it’s an impressive contribution nonetheless, but it’s a whole different ball game playing for one of the two Scottish giants.
A questionable need
If Gallagher does go – and that still seems likely, we would question whether there really is space for O’Riley in the squad. We’re already wondering how we manage to squeeze Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Romeo Lavia into the same team. Then there’s a host of younger backups already on the books.
This rumour is just hard to take too seriously, especially until Gallagher is actually gone and there’s no guarantee of that at the moment. If the idea of these sporting directors is to profit on young players, they need to identify them before they are worth €40m. At the moment, buying O’Riley would be buying high, so unless you’re sure he’s got another level to go to, it’s a bad plan.
O’Riley, when he moves will have an eye on going to a big club, than rules Chelsea out.