Everton weigh up January transfer for Celtic star Matt O’Riley amid Premier League competition
Everton are one of six Premier League clubs weighing up a potential January transfer for Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley, according to Graeme Bailey.
The journalist reported via HITC on Friday (19 January) that the Toffees are considering a late move for the Hoops midfielder alongside several other teams in the Premier League who could test Celtic and Brendan Rodgers’ resolve this month.
In the Premier League, Crystal Palace, Fulham, West Ham United, Fulham and Wolves are all keeping tabs on the midfielder, which could see Celtic struggle to keep the 23-year-old in Glasgow for the second half of the campaign.
Alongside the interest from England, plenty of European sides are keen on O’Riley, with the likes of Nice, Lille, Napoli and Inter Milan all big fans of the Denmark international, while La Liga leaders Girona are also known to be admirers.
The race is on
It seems as though the race has well and truly begun to secure O’Riley’s services, however, this mass amount of interest from both within the Premier League and among European giants may come as bad news to Everton and their supporters.
The financial struggles at Goodison Park have been well documented in the last couple of seasons and it seems unlikely that the Toffees will be able to outbid their competition, especially considering they were only just charged with breaching profit and sustainability rules.
Celtic are reluctant to sell their midfielder and even if they are forced into letting O’Riley leave this month, they will certainly make sure that they sell to the highest bidder, which is unlikely to be Everton.
Hopefully, the Toffees can find a way of getting this deal over the line and beat off the rest of their competition, but it seems unlikely that we’ll see O’Riley in a blue shirt anytime soon.
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