An emotional Matt O'Riley feels his time at Celtic has set him up for a crack at the Premier League after he swapped Glasgow for Brighton.
The 23-year-old has signed a five-year contract with Albion after leaving Celtic in what could be a potential Scottish record transfer fee, with some reports claiming the Hoops could get a further £5million on top of the initial £25million deal.
O’Riley scored 27 goals in 124 appearances after joining Celtic from MK Dons in January 2022 and won three league titles as well as three domestic cups.
The Denmark midfielder excelled last season with 19 goals and 18 assists and was named Celtic’s player of the year.
The likes of Atletico Madrid and Atalanta failed with bids for O’Riley this year and he looked destined to move on this summer, but he admitted that leaving Celtic was not an easy task.
"It is hard," the former Fulham youth player said in a video interview on Brighton’s official website.
"People probably don’t realise how big the club is until you get up there. It’s a real family club and one that I was made to feel welcome at very early on.
"It’s a very unique place just in terms of the passion the fans had, (it) is something I had never experienced before. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.
"It is still a little bit emotional speaking about it because I had such good memories there, but it just felt like the right time for a new challenge for me. But I only leave with fond memories.
"Celtic made me mature a lot as a person. You need to win every single game. If you don’t win every single game, even if it’s against strong opposition like Rangers, then it’s an absolute disaster.
"So you really have to be on it and that relentless winning mentality has set me up for the next challenge. I hope I can bring some of that."
O’Riley was happy for his future to be sorted after a summer of speculation.
"It has definitely taken a while," he said. "It got a little bit stressful over the last couple of weeks, if I’m being honest, because I think the talks were ongoing for a good couple of months but I’m just really happy to be here now."
O’Riley’s departure heightens Celtic’s need to finish the transfer window strongly after failing to add any new outfield players so far.
Manager Brendan Rodgers has made no secret of his wishes for quality additions in recent days after the club took some time to secure the returns of former loan players Paulo Bernardo and Adam Idah, whose signings followed that of goalkeepers Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo.
The Scottish champions are reported to be finalising a temporary move for 20-year-old Barcelona left-back Alex Valle, who spent last season on loan at Levante in Spain’s second tier.
They also continue to be linked with a move for Augsburg’s Belgian midfielder Arne Engels.
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