‘Celtic’s Matt O’Riley has outgrown Scottish football’

Is Matt O’Riley now too good for Scottish football?

Perhaps there are better ways of phrasing that question, given the fact the Celtic midfielder currently plays for a giant of a club and would benefit from another Champions League campaign if he stays put this summer.

If the Denmark international moves to his reported likely destination, Brighton, he will be giving up European football for the season but will playing his domestic action in the English top flight, the world’s best league in the eyes of many.

It is for that reason Mark Atkinson of the Scotsman feels O’Riley, 23, has “outgrown Scottish football” and the time is now for the midfielder to test himself in the Premier League, just like plenty of former Celtic stars have done.

“I think he will leave,” Atkinson told the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast. “It feels like the right time and I think Celtic are braced for it.

“Brighton are keen to strengthen their squad under their new manager [Fabian] Hurzeler. And there’s a big void in their midfield.

“They lost Pascal Gross over the summer, a really important player, and I think O’Riley would suit Brighton’s style of play really well, possession based.

“Let’s be honest, he needs a fresh challenge for the sake of his career.”

It’s not difficult to see why Brighton, and Atalanta, and Atletico Madrid, have pursued O’Riley.

Since his arrival from MK Dons for a bargain £1.5m in January 2022, he has been a key first-team player. But last term he took his game to a new level under Brendan Rodgers, contributing 19 goals and 18 assists in 49 appearances.

With O’Riley having signed a new contract last year until 2027, Celtic are in no rush to sell but appear to be holding out for a similar amount to the £25m record fee they received for Kieran Tierney’s move to Arsenal in 2019.