Matt O’Riley, a midfielder for Brighton, acknowledged that when he left Celtic last summer, he had two primary possibilities.
After pursuing O’Riley for a while, the Seagulls finally paid £25 million in August of last year, bringing the Denmark international on board for a five-year deal with a one-year option.
It ultimately came down to Brighton or Serie A team Atalanta, as Celtic was obviously eager to maximise the cost for the midfielder they acquired for £1.5 million from MK Dons in 2022.
O’Riley had positive conversations with both clubs last summer but opted for Fabian Hurzeler’s Seagulls.
O’Riley told the Official Albion Podcast that it was most likely between Brighton and Atalanta in the end. “I talked to each of them. Atalanta also gave me a positive vibe.
“Obviously, the primary reason things weren’t occurring was the money element between the two teams in the end. However, I felt that [Brighton] would be a good fit for me based on the phone talks and the atmosphere here. It turned out to be correct.
Six minutes into his Carabao Cup debut against Crawley Town, O’Riley sustained an ankle injury. He came on as a second half substitute last Saturday, ahead of schedule, and scored the game-winning goal against Manchester City.
The 23-year-old acknowledged that his injury layoff offered him an opportunity to evaluate Hurzeler’s squad and determine his position. O’Riley said that if he didn’t think the playing style fit him, he wouldn’t have joined Brighton last summer.
“I would have said no if the play style here hadn’t been appropriate,” he continued. That’s a big chunk of it. Since style affects everything, I would have chosen a place like here or Atalanta before a big club came in for me if the style was unacceptable.
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