Matt O’Riley may have left Celtic 12 months ago, but the midfielder admits he still keeps a close eye on events at Parkhead.
Signed under Ange Postecoglou, O’Riley quickly became a key figure in midfield, and when Brendan Rodgers returned to the club, he kicked on again, and took his game to the next level, adding double figure goals to his game, which earned a near £30m move to Brighton last summer.
Despite swapping Glasgow for the Premier League, the 24-year-old says his connection to Celtic remains strong.
“I still follow all the games,” O’Riley told The Celtic Way. “Even though I don’t post that much on social media, I’m still watching every single game and trying to keep tabs on them.
“I’m still in contact with people. It’s hard in football to keep contact with everybody because it moves so fast and things change, but I did make some good friends up there, and I’m still in contact with a lot of staff at Celtic, which has been nice.”
O’Riley’s debut season in England was disrupted by injuries and squad rotation, limiting his impact. With several clubs from England, France and Italy reportedly interested in his services this summer, his future at Brighton is uncertain, but for now, he’s focused on getting a clean run of games and rediscovering the form that made him a fan favourite in Glasgow.
Hopefully, he can do that. He’s a top player, and has the potential to star in the Premier League.
Celtic didn’t make a like-for-like replacement with O’Riley. His numbers were replaced by Maeda and Kuhn, while Arne Engels took up the position in the middle of the pitch. The jury is still out on the Belgian, who is now competing for a place with summer signing Nygren.
O’Riley, Kuhn & Kyogo all gone for big money and the team has lost its attacking prowess, with only the quality of Maeda left up front until Jota returns. Celtic is merely a feeder club for the bigger English and European teams, a means of profit spinning for the suits who make a fortune from the club. Celtic will never achieve anything outside of the SPL because the ambition for that is simply absent at Board level. This season will be a very bad one for Celtic unless serious backing is given to Brendan Rodgers very quickly. And they need to spend the money more wisely than last season’s last day panick buys that saw the club pay 3 times what the players were worth. Idah, Engels and Trusty are average players at best.
Before anyone tells me, I know that I mistakenly wrote “panick” rather than panic. Call it a senior moment!