Why Matt O'Riley is a Great Addition to Brighton

Making the move from Scotland to England, Celtic’s Matt O’Riley has completed his medical and is all set to join Brighton. Here is why he is a brilliant signing.

🚨 BREAKING: Matt O'Riley will sign for Brighton! 🇩🇰🔵⚪️

Celtic will receive £25M plus bonuses of up to £5M, a record transfer in Scotland. 💰

(Source: @FabrizioRomano) pic.twitter.com/CqBKzWFlCl

— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) August 23, 2024

Football Park rated tier one source Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that the deal is worth £25 million with bonuses up to £5 million, making it a Scottish transfer record.

The Danish man has been fantastic for Celtic for a number of seasons, and he has now had the recognition he deserves by Premier League side Brighton. Last year’s campaign saw him register 49 appearances for the Glaswegian club with 6 of those matches being in the prestigious UEFA Champions League.

In those games O’Riley found the back of the net a total of 19 times and provided 18 assists to his teammates. A reminder that he is a centre midfielder. Those sought of numbers are unprecedented. If he were to do that in the Premier League he would join the company of only Frank Lampard, Yaya Touré, Steven Gerrard, Kevin De Bruyne and Cesc Fàbregas as a central midfielder to score 15+ goals in a single season of the Premier League. Not the worst list of players.

Per 90 minutes of football in the Scottish Premiership, he averaged 0.50 goals, 0.36 assists, 3.02 shots and 1.19 shots on target. It isn’t only attacking prowess that he shows though. Defensively he is impressive as well, over the last 365 across all competitions he is averaging 2.59 tackles, 1.30 interceptions, 1.48 blocks and 1.85 clearances.

Brighton had to strengthen in midfield this summer transfer window bringing in Mats Wieffer from Feyenoord after the departures of Pascal Groß, Marc Leonard and Adam Lallana. Bringing in O’Riley is a step in the right direction as he can be used in a double pivot with the aforementioned Wieffer or in attacking midfield in the no.10 role when João Pedro is either injured or needs a rest.

Fabian Hürzeler has clearly identified a situation with the team he has inherited that could cost them in gaining a spot in the elite European places in the Premier League. Purchasing Matt O’Riley is a great solution to that problem.

For the price of the deal, he could go onto be one of the best new signings in the Premier League this season. His talent could see him become an elite midfielder in the league if he translates the numbers he was producing for Celtic.