Popular Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley could be headed for Brighton as the Seagulls look for a midfielder to replace outgoing Billy Gilmour.
Sky Sports have reported this afternoon that Brighton have now made formal bid to sign Matt O’Riley with talks ongoing.
Fabrizio Romano reports
Meanwhile Fabrizio Romano reports that should the O’Riley deal with Celtic go through, Gilmour should be on his way out of Brighton to head for Serie A side Napoli.
Earlier today Gianluca Di Marzio reported that the Scotland international Gilmour will likely play his football for Napoli this season. Brighton have always wanted to sign Matt O’Riley but have ramped up their interest today as a result of the Gilmour development.
It was reported at the start of the month that Brighton had entered into talks with Celtic over the Dane, with false reports even claiming that they had tabled a bid for the midfielder. That bid though has now arrived.
Brighton has already spent £25m on a midfielder
Brighton has already spent £25m on midfielder Brajan Gruda from Mainz, leaving a lot of speculation as to what their stance on O’Riley was following the completion of that deal. However it appears that their plan is to move Gilmour on and bring in Celtic’s Denmark international.
However Brighton will have to put their money where their mouth is if they want the Scottish champions to budge. Celtic want a minimum of £25m plus add-ons for O’Riley and that was a sum that Atalanta never reached despite making a handful of lowball bids, all of which were rejected.
Meanwhile, Celta Vigo are reportedly willing to sell defender Carl Starfelt just a year after he left Celtic.
Here’s Sky Sports confirming the Brighton bid has been lodged with Celtic this afternoon…
Jessica Elliott
