Brendan Rodgers makes an open confession about Matt O’Riley’s future at Celtic as the manager detects a change in the air.
Rodgers says he’s far from wishing O’Riley out the door but senses he might be at a point in his career where he fancies a change.
Brendan Rodgers admits he doesn’t know if star man Matt O’Riley will commit to signing a new Celtic contract.
O’Riley is in talks with club bosses about putting pen to paper on a bumper extension following a raft of new deals for the likes of skipper Callum McGregor, strikers Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda and winger Liel Abada. Anthony Ralston and Stephen Welsh have also signed up with midfielder Reo Hatate on the verge of becoming the latest stalwart to secure his long term future in Glasgow’s east end.
Rodgers is desperate for O’Riley to follow suit and the manager revealed he played a key role in booting out a £10m bid for the Danish international from Leeds United during the summer transfer window. But, when asked if he planned on making O’Riley a cornerstone of his team for years to come the Parkhead boss said: “I would love to – but we have been here before haven’t we? This is the beauty of me coming back.
“The experience tells me when players are at a certain point. He is in his third year now. I said to him in pre-season, ‘I can make you a better player and improve you as a player’. But naturally what happens at Celtic is that you improve and develop and then, you know….
“I am not wishing him out the door of course. But he is 22 years of age. Funny enough I was talking to Kasper Hjulmund, the Danish national manager, about him the other day. I was giving a report on him and I know Kasper well from dealing with the Danish players I had at Leicester – we have a good relationship.
“I was telling him that from the outside Matt is totally different from when you are inside working with him. So I just think he needs to keep doing what he is doing.
“Of course we want to keep him here, we would love to keep him here, and I believe that he still has a lot of development to do here. But he is showing some great signs. He has a wonderful attitude to the game, he is ambitious – but ambitious for Celtic as well as himself.
“He is investing his time in development. He could have left here. With the greatest respect he could have earned significantly more money by leaving. But that is not everything for him.”
Leeds intended to sign O’Riley in the final days of the transfer window after rejecting a massive bid. However, Rodgers was adamant in conversations with CEO Michael Nicholson that the transaction could not go through. And he expects O’Riley will eventually be sold for a far higher price.
“Yeah, it was an open conversation, and that’s what I’ve always had here with Michael and the guys,” he explained. I didn’t think we could afford to lose another starter, and the club was really understanding. They were fantastic.
“Obviously, we’d lost Starfelt and Jota, and we knew Cameron Carter-Vickers would be out for a while.” I didn’t think we could afford to lose another. But, of course, that is all on the player, because if the player truly wants to move and pushes for it, I believe that if he doesn’t want to be here, he shouldn’t be here.
“I’ve been in situations where you think you can keep them for another year, but they’re not the same player if they really, really want to leave.” Matt never gave me that impression.
“He understands that I am investing in him to help him improve. He’s still aware of his abilities to improve, and maybe this half of the season will show him that I can still progress and develop him as a player. In a year’s time, his worth will undoubtedly rise.”
