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‘Speaking to somebody’: Neil Lennon says he’s been told Leeds really wanted to sign £1.5m Celtic player
As the dust starts to settle on Celtic’s Champions League defeat to Lazio last night, no doubt the bones will picked on Brendan Rodgers’ side’s performance for the remainder of the week.
A disappointing result sees Celtic prop up Group E with four games to go. It was a poor result on a night that did have a few shining lights.
One of those lights, Matt O’Riley, shone brightly and it is little wonder that he is attracting attention from clubs in England and beyond.
The summer transfer window saw Celtic reject a £10m bid from Leeds United, a bid that looks paltry now, but it seems that the English Championship side were really desperate to sign the 22-year-old.
Neil Lennon says Leeds were ‘really heavy’ on Matt O’Riley
Former Celtic manager, Neil Lennon, was doing his punditry work on Celtic’s Champions League tie against Lazio last night.
And in the pre-match build-up, Lennon revealed that he had spoken to someone at Leeds who confirmed they tried to get him this summer.
Lennon said [], “I think he’s had a great start to the season. He’s really blossomed. This is his third season now and every week, looking at him now, he’s always on the scoresheet.
“He was a target for a number of clubs and I was speaking to somebody at Leeds and they were really heavy on him.
“But now he’s on a long-term contract he’s settling down now. He’s playing at the highest level and we’re seeing the best of him now.”
Three reasons why it will cost Leeds more than £10m for O’Riley
Let’s get a fourth reason out of the way first. The guy is quality. And I mean genuine quality. For two seasons he has been central to Celtic’s successes and already, this season, he has taken his game to another level.
However, the first reason is that he can mix it with Europe’s elite. Following on from brilliant showings in Ange Postecoglou’s first foray into the Champions League last year, O’Riley proved again last night just how valuable he is to Celtic with an accomplished performance against Lazio.
And that pass to Kyogo Furuhashi for the goal. It was just sublime.
The second is that he is now seriously wanted by not one, but two national sides. TBR Celtic told last week how Denmark and Norway are getting set to slug it out for O’Riley and, after last night’s performance against the Italians, I have no doubt he will have the pick of either of them.
And thirdly, at just 22-years-old, O’Riley still has a lot of developing to do. If he is this good now, any interested club is still buying a player who has not reached their potential. He is likely to get better and better the older he gets.
So, Leeds, if you want O’Riley, it’s going to take a helluva lot more than £10m to get this rising star of European football.
In other news, ‘Strongly disagree’: Stan Petrov was seriously unhappy at Brendan Rodgers’ pre-match Celtic comments