‘Top player’ Matt O’Riley on verge of swapping Celtic for Brighton

By Ronnie Esplin, PA

Brendan Rodgers expects Matt O’Riley to complete his move from Celtic to Brighton in “the next couple of days.”

The 23-year-old Denmark midfielder is down south undergoing a medical for a transfer reportedly worth £25million to the Hoops.

O’Riley joined Celtic from MK Dons in January 2022 for a reported fee of £1.5m.

Speaking before the William Hill Premiership game against St Mirren in Paisley, Hoops boss Rodgers told BBC Scotland: “He’ll be down in Brighton, completing his medical so we expect that to go through over the course of the next couple of days.

“If a player leaves here, you pay for the player and not necessarily the league. The club have done great in terms of a business perspective, of course.

“From a footballing perspective, you’re always sad to lose a top player. He’s been absolutely magnificent in this last year.

“Pleased for Matt in terms of, he gets a move to the Premier League and for us, we continue to push on and that’s the model of the club.”

Celtic have been linked with 20-year-old Augsburg midfielder Arne Engels.

On possible new recruits, Rodgers said: “Ideal scenario is we wouldn’t be having to do so much business in the last week, however there’s still that time for us to do something and improve the squad.

“Hopefully over the course of this next week, we can get some players in that can give us strength in depth in the squad because after September we’ve got a really long season.”