Former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has tipped Danish midfielder Matt O’Riley to one day play for a Top Six club in English football.
The man who came within a whisker of getting Scotland to a major finals before Steve Clarke ended years of heartache, spent four years at Celtic Park where he won three titles and had a fair few talented engine room men to work with throughout that period.
Neil Lennon, Thomas Gravesen, Paul Hartley, Scott Brown, Barry Robson and Massimo Donati are just some of the names Strachan had the pleasure to coach and help progress during his tenure at Paradise.
Undoubted talents
Although one or two didn’t hit the heights that their undoubted talents deserved in Glasgow’s East End, Strachan knew a player when he saw one and that’s exactly what he sees in Matt O’Riley.
The gaffer was asked about whether or not he thought that any players from the big two in Scotland could play in the English Premier League and the prickly redhead was only too keen to oblige. When speaking to BoyleSports, the man who won three consecutive Scottish titles in a row for Celtic, said:
I would say O’Riley
“If we’re talking about just a Premier League side, I would say John Lundstram can play there, Tavernier can play, Sima can play, and Jack Butland. For Celtic, Hatate, McGregor, O’Riley and Carter-Vickers. If you say to me who could play in the top six? I would say O’Riley. I think he could.”
No doubt there will be eyes casting over Celtic Park this summer transfer window, when Matt O’Riley has earned himself a shot at the big time.
Top-dollar
After Atletico Madrid’s advances were swatted away in the January transfer window, the Hoops knew it would only be a matter of time before others would come calling.
In truth, it is an undeniable fact of where we are in the footballing food chain and if Matt could join a Top Six side down in England, it would be top-dollar we could command.
Paul Gillespie
