MATT O’RILEY has repeated that Celtic is “the perfect place” for him, despite summer transfer speculation.
The 21-year-old playmaker is under contract at the title-winners until June 2026 after joining in a £1.5million swich from third-tier MK Dons in January.
O’Riley made an instant impact at the Hoops and will almost certainly take his place alongside skipper Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate in the team’s engine room for tomorrow night’s Champions League Group F encounter against Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw.
SMILES BETTER…Matt O’Riley congratulates Moritz Jenz on his goal in the 5-0 win over Kilmarnock while Filipe Jota, Kyogo Furuhashi and Cameron Carter-Vickers join in.
The London-born performer, who has broken through to the Danish Under-21 squad as his mother’s birthplace, revealed Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City and Newcastle United showed interest in him while there was also speculation about Manchester United and Arsenal monitoring his startling progress across the border.
O’Riley, speaking to Danish outlet Tipsbladet, admitted: “I know that Leicester showed a lot of interest in me. And I think Newcastle were there, too. But it didn’t matter. If there is no offer, then it is not very concrete in my head.
“I didn’t really think about it because nobody from Celtic told me that, for example, Newcastle had made an offer. It wasn’t like that, so there wasn’t much to think about, and a lot is also written in the media.
“It’s great to get some recognition, because it means that I’m doing well at Celtic.
ON THE BALL…smooth operator Matt O’Riley is in control.
“But, as I say, Celtic is the perfect place for me right now. It’s a big club, we play in the Champions League, the fans are insanely good and the team is good.
“It’s a perfect place to be and I also think it’s a good place to be if I want to go to the World Cup with Denmark.”
O’Riley has been tipped as an outsider to get a full international call-up by his adopted nation for the global event in Qatar in November and December.
