Phil SumblerSky Sports are reporting that the Swans and Huddersfield Town are in talks with Russell Martin’s former club, MK Dons, to sign Matt O’Riley, one of the leading midfielders in League One this season.
Their transfer centre page reports “The 21-year-old has been one of the standout players in Sky Bet League One this season and Bournemouth, Barnsley and Middlesborough have also shown interest.
“Swans boss Russell Martin managed O’Riley at MK Dons last season and has been determined to take him to the Swansea.com Stadium since making the switch in the summer.
“But Huddersfield are equally as confident of persuading the ex-Fulham academy player to move to Yorkshire next month.”
All the links on this one make sense other than Sky also report that MK Dons value the player between £1.5m and £2m which would surely price the Swans out of the running? Of course with some players on their way from the Swansea.com stadium there could be a possibility of a player/cash deal and we all know that often transfer fees when quoted are inflated especially when – as is the case here – there are a couple of clubs reportedly showing interest
#Swansea and #Huddersfield are in talks to sign Matt O’Riley from #MKDons. Ex-#Fulhamfc academy player who is top-ranked CM in L1 this term acc.@Wyscout Other clubs also like him a lot #SSN https://t.co/OzHTtF6aQx
— Lyall Thomas (@SkySportsLyall) December 31, 2021
O’Riley was awarded the EFL Young player of the month award for November after he admitted he had some strange questions when he first signed on at Stadium MK.
“I got a lot of weird looks from people at first thinking, ‘what are you doing?’” he began. “Now, they’re starting to realise, ‘OK, it probably was the right thing for him to do’.
“I’ve played 50-odd games here and yeah, I might have played that at Fulham, but at that time in my career, it just didn’t feel like the right thing to do. I wanted to take my career into my own hands and trust my ability. Ever since I’ve done that, it’s really paid off.
“At the start of the season, I was playing a bit deeper and trying to dictate the game, in terms of my position, whereas in November I was playing a bit higher up. In the sense of goals and assists, it was probably a bit easier for me to contribute and stand out. At Morecambe the other week, I was playing a bit higher up so I was getting into positions that I wouldn’t usually get into.
“At the start of the season, I’d have said I’d rather have played higher up. When I started playing deeper, I got a lot more of the ball and I really got my touches. I enjoyed that more, purely because when I get more of the ball, I can help the team tick, as such, and get us flowing nicely.
“I’m a better player this season than I was last season. I’m more confident and I’m taking more responsibility within the team.”
