Everton hold talks over Matt O’Riley signing as Celtic eye club-record transfer fee
Everton have held talks over a deal to sign Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley this summer, according to HITC.
A report from Graeme Bailey on the outlet’s website on 2 July indicated that the Dane is in high demand, with the likes of Southampton, Brentford, Fulham and West Ham also having held discussions over a move for the Hoops’ Player of the Year.
The Scottish Premiership champions reportedly want £30million for the midfielder, which would make him their most expensive sale ever, surpassing former Toffees-linked winger Jota’s move to the Saudi Pro League a year ago for £25m.
There is also said to be interest in Europe from the likes of Atletico Madrid, Lyon, Monaco and Ben Godfrey’s new club Atalanta.
Everton are expecting to sell their own big-money midfielder in the face of major interest [Alan Myers, 14 June], after receiving multiple approaches for Belgian star Amadou Onana [The Times, 14 June].
Amadou Onana exit from Everton to leave midfield gap to fill
Sean Dyche may already have brought in Tim Iroegbunam on a permanent deal from Aston Villa but seemingly remains a major focus on central midfield, as the club is also fighting to sign Florentino Luis from Benfica [Record, 30 June].
Clearly O’Riley isn’t going to be cheap, and since the Parkhead star has been a central part of their three consecutive league title wins it is little surprise that Brendan Rodgers’ side wants a big fee.
The amount of clubs who are interested is only likely to push the price even higher, so even allowing for whatever money Everton end up bringing in for Onana it might mean O’Riley is out of their reach.
The 23-year-old started last season like a house on fire, and although he was unable to maintain that level throughout he still finished the campaign with 19 goals and 18 assists across all competitions from midfield, yet was surprisingly left out of the Denmark squad for Euro 2024.
He looks destined to make the next step sooner or later but it is going to require big money to make it happen.
The Toffees have made it past the 30 June deadline to address profit and sustainability concerns and could potentially offset such a purchase against Onana and Dominic Calvert-Lewin exits over the next year if they want to push to win this race.
In other Everton news, the club has now completed the signing of a new “exciting attacker”.
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