Brighton sign Celtic midfielder O’Riley for over £25m
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Published
Brighton have signed midfielder Matt O’Riley from Scottish champions Celtic for a fee believed to be more than £25m.
The London-born Denmark international has signed a five-year contract until June 2029.
O’Riley, 23, scored 27 goals in 124 appearances for Celtic, winning six trophies including three Scottish Premiership titles.
The deal is a Scottish transfer record, surpassing the fee paid to Celtic by Al-Ittihad for Jota last summer, and Kieran Tierney’s £25m switch to Arsenal in 2019.
It also represents a significant profit on the reported £1.5m Celtic signed O’Riley for from MK Dons in 2022.
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler said O’Riley’s abilities as a box-to-box midfielder “make him special”.
“He is a great character, and has a good ambition to succeed and that’s something which is very important for us,” Hurzeler added.
O’Riley becomes Brighton’s seventh signing of a busy summer that includes a £40m club-record deal for French forward Georginio Rutter from Leeds and Netherlands midfielder Mats Wieffer joining from Feyenoord for about £25.5m.
Hurzeler’s side are second in the Premier League after beating Everton and Manchester United in their opening two games of the season.
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Published26 July 2022
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