Phil SumblerIt is clear, and was all through our pursuit, that Russell Martin is a huge fan of Matt O’Riley who of course signed for Celtic last week after they triggered the release clause in his contract at £1.5m, a figure that the Swans simply couldn’t match on this occasion.
O’Riley was strongly rumoured to want to come to Swansea but with that release clause a key part in his contract, it was the Glasgow side that came forward, got to that figure and the move North is now complete and he is part of the Celtic squad. Whether he would have moved to be with his former boss had we got to that level of fee we will never know but it is speculated in more than one place that it would indeed have been the case.
Either way it matters not at this stage as O’Riley is in Scotland and we moved quickly on to secure the signing of Hannes Wolf on loan for the rest of the season but Martin’s admiration for the player has not gone away as an article in today’s Scotsman testifies.
Martin of course signed O’Riley from Fulham when he was at MK Dons and he revealed that the midfielder was also attracting interest from Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund at the time. That was just 12 months ago which shows that the interest from the big clubs was not misplaced but as Martin reveals, they could not agree compensation terms with Fulham.
“Back in 2020 I spoke to an agent who said he had this boy, Matt O’Riley, and he was refusing a new contract at Fulham,” he said.
“He got offered a very good contract, but was desperate to play. He didn’t want to be a squad player and was backing his ability to play first-team football.
“He was in talks with the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Southampton, Burnley, Chelsea but nobody could agree compensation with Fulham.
“He came to train with us [MK Dons] and right away it was like, ‘Wow, he’s some player’ – good technically, two-footed, brilliant finisher and just a really intelligent footballer.
“We really enjoyed having him and he was really enjoying it too. He said the way we played football suited him and he’d love to explore trying to sign.
“It took us three months to get something in place with Fulham.
“He took a wage that was probably about a fifth of what he was offered at Fulham just to play first-team football, because he knew how much it suited him.
“Matty sees the bigger picture.
“I’m convinced he’ll go on to play at the very top, but a huge part of his journey now is playing at a club as big as Celtic.”
