Some interesting background on how we got to watch Matt O'Riley.
https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl ... s-22861644Matt O'Riley slashed his wages by a 80 PERCENT to play regular football at MK Dons.
Celtic's new signing is a player's player and has always simply wanted to do his talking on the pitch.
That's according to his former manager Russell Martin who knew he was getting a top professional when in charge of the Dons. "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 he was desperate to play. He didn’t want to be a squad player any more and was backing his ability to play first-team football. He didn’t think he’d get that chance at Fulham and was in talks with the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Southampton, Burnley, Chelsea. But nobody could agree compensation with Fulham as they wanted quite a bit of money. So it was about keeping him fit while that was going on."
“He came to train with us and right away it was like, ‘Wow, he’s some player’. He was good technically, two-footed, a brilliant finisher and just a really intelligent footballer. We really enjoyed having him and after a month he came and said 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. It was the January 2021 window by the time we did it."
“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.