According to a report by TEAMtalk, Tottenham and West Ham United will try and sign Celtic’s central midfielder Matt O’Riley.
O’Riley joined Celtic in January 2022 and in just a short span of time, the 22-year-old has played 89 games for the club and he’s impressed with his performances in central as well as in attacking midfield.
The Denmark international is a product of the Fulham academy and there’s a big chance that he could return to the Premier League next year because a fee of around £30 million and Celtic won’t mind selling him off.
Spurs are planning to get rid of Hojbjerg with Atletico Madrid interested in signing him which is why Ange Postecoglou is looking to bring in an alternative during the January window.
West Ham United did sign James Ward-Prowse which means David Moyes wants to add depth to his squad but we doubt if the Hammers can stand up to their London rivals in this transfer race.
Firstly, Postecoglou has seen Matt O’Riley from close quarters so the midfielder will prefer to join Tottenham over West Ham United. When he was at Fulham, the 22-year-old managed to play in only 5 matches for the senior side and if he is returning to England then he will want to play for a manager with whom he shares a good relationship.
The second reason why Tottenham is more likely to sign the Celtic midfielder is that they are currently sitting at the top of the table and under their new manager, the Lilywhites are playing some of the best of football amongst all the big European clubs. Any player will want to join a potential champion team rather than head to a mid-table team.
Thirdly, if Matt O’Riley joins Tottenham as the replacement for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg he will get a lot more game time because at West Ham United, he is currently being looked up as a backup option.
To conclude, £30 million won’t be a problem for either of the two England teams and if Celtic get the money they have to cash in on him however, unless Tottenham see a catastrophic dip in form in these two months, they are very much the favourites to sign the Danish midfielder.
