CELTIC are waiting to find out whether they will land another windfall from Matt O’Riley as Roma weigh up a move for the midfielder.
The Parkhead outfit banked £25million from Brighton for the Denmark international last summer and are likely to cash in again should he move on in the coming weeks.
Several clubs have shown an interest in O’Riley, but Roma head coach Gian Piero Gasperini is a long-standing admirer and is pushing club bosses to do a deal.
Roma are interested in signing former Celtic star Matt O’Riley from Brighton
Gasperini was keen to snap up the player during his time as head coach of Atalanta and has not been put off despite the fact O’Riley made just 11 starts for the Seagulls after suffering a serious ankle injury at the start of the campaign.
It is understood Brighton would accept an offer around the £20m mark with Celtic understood to have included a 10 per cent sell-on clause in the deal that saw O’Riley head to the south coast 12 months ago.
Cork trip showed Engels just how massive Scottish champions are
ARNE ENGELS admits that travelling to Ireland for Celtic’s Tuesday night friendly with Cork City simply opened his eyes even wider to the size of the club he joined last summer in an £11million deal from German outfit Augsburg.
The 21-year-old midfielder was one of four players presented to the public at a sports store in Cork for a Q&A session with supporters and was blown away by the turnout.
‘You know that it is a really big club with a really big history. If you come here to Ireland, to the store and so many people are here, it is amazing to see,’ he stated at the event.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers meets fans before the pre-season friendly match in Cork
‘If you really experience it and go into the stadiums and go into the city in Glasgow, you really feel how big the club is.’
Liam Scales, Johnny Kenny and Auston Trusty were also present at the event with manager Brendan Rodgers, captain Callum McGregor and striker Adam Idah present at a civic reception in Cork City Hall along with CEO Michael Nicholson as their hosts rolled out the red carpet.
Irishman Scales, who hails from Wicklow, admits that playing in his home country in the green-and-white hoops will always be a special occasion.
‘There is a massive fanbase in Ireland and it is great to play games here.’ he said. ‘I played against Wolves at the Aviva a couple of years ago and it was a great experience.’
Antwerp winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha is a transfer target for Celtic
Balikwisha will need to learn to button it if he makes Celtic move
MICHEL-ANGE BALIKWISHA will have to show he has learned to button his lip should his proposed move to Celtic from Belgian club Royal Antwerp go through.
The 24-year-old wide man has been on the Parkhead club’s radar since January and talks have taken place between the clubs as Bhoys manager Brendan Rodgers considers his options in the attacking positions.
Balikwisha has Champions League experience on his CV and managed three goals and two assists in the final seven games of the season to help Antwerp into a European place.
He got himself into hot water back in April, though, when lashing out at his team-mates following a defeat at the hands of Gent in April.
‘I give good passes, but my team-mates don’t finish them,’ he said. ‘Not everyone is perfect, but I am tired of playing for nothing.’
Balikwisha was immediately pulled aside by then-Antwerp No 2 Andries Ulderink – a former assistant boss to Philippe Clement at Rangers and now on the staff at Bayer Leverkusen – and set straight.
‘I spoke to Bali about that,’ said Ulderink. ‘I think it wasn’t his best interview. He realises that himself. He let himself be caught by the emotions of the moment.’
Rodgers will be looking for evidence Balikwisha has learned to control his impulses off the pitch should he push ahead with a deal in the next week or two.
Mass exodus leaves Rodgers with a squad to rebuild
The consensus towards the end of last season, and into the summer break, was that only one Glasgow club required a clearout – and it wasn’t Celtic.
Despite their Scottish Cup final defeat, it had been another dominant campaign for Brendan Rodgers’ side and there seemed to be no real need for significant change.
Yes, it was important to keep moving forward with two or three quality signings and a few honest decisions about the future of some fringe players. But a slew of departures wasn’t necessarily anticipated, at least not the kind of exodus from Celtic Park that is slowly but surely gathering strength as the new season approaches.
While it is far from the overhaul taking place across the city – the bulk of Rodgers’ first-team squad remains intact – a surprising number of Celtic players are likely to be gone by the end of the transfer window. That includes one or two first-team regulars.
Left-back Greg Taylor has already left for PAOK, while Nicolas Kuhn is poised to join Como in a deal thought to be worth around five times what Celtic paid for him only 18 months ago.
Celtic stalwart Greg Taylor has signed for Greek side PAOK
Maik Nawrocki is out the door, having agreed a season-long loan with Hannover 96, who have an option to buy. Another misfit defender, Gustaf Lagerbielke has joined Portuguese club Braga. And goalkeeper Scott Bain, released at the end of the season, has joined Falkirk after seven years as an understudy at Celtic.
Ross Doohan replaces him as the club’s No 3 keeper. Add to that youngsters Matthew Anderson and Daniel Cummings, who have departed for Kortrijk and West Ham United respectively, and the number who have packed their bags amounts to a good handful. But at least as many again are sure to follow.
Celtic centre-half Maik Nawrocki has moved to German side Hannover 96 on loan
Centre-back Gustaf Lagerbielke looks set to sign a permanent contract with Braga, where he has been on loan. And winger Luis Palma would already be away had Olympiakos, where he had a temporary deal last season, exercised their option to buy.
Kwon Hyeok-kyu seems destined for another loan after a patchy one at Hibs last season. And Marco Tilio, back at Lennoxtown after an extended loan to Melbourne City, has a lot of work to do if he is to convince Rodgers that he should remain with Celtic.
Stephen Welsh, whose value as a squadman is appreciated by the manager, could be approaching that stage of his career where he needs a permanent move.
The 25-year-old’s stint with Mechelen last season was impressive enough to alert other clubs. All in all, it is quite a revamp in and around the fringes. Kieran Tierney is a strong addition to Rodgers’ starting 11, but if they are to keep pressing on, they also need a squad that is improving.
Celtic’s new psychedelic pre-match jersey is certainly a bold design
New ‘slushy’ Celtic kit is dividing opinion among fans
While Celtic’s football under Brendan Rodgers is easy on the eye, the same cannot be said for some of their kits. The latest to be released by the club has provoked what might best be described as a ‘mixed reaction’ on social media.
While some gave their blessing to the new ‘pre-match jersey’, others were less enamoured with the psychedelic number.
The adidas outfit appears to fuse mint and hot pink, against a background of television interference, although the club’s official introduction didn’t put it that way. It said: ‘The vibrant design is inspired by festival posters, featuring a bold, colourful, abstract design, with the Adidas performance logo and the iconic Celtic four-leaf clover embroidered on, showing your support.’
Not everyone is convinced. One wag replied to the initial post by comparing the kit to a ‘slushy’. Another pointed out that there would, at least, be no worries over it running in the washing machine. More pertinently, some were offended not so much by the colours as by the very fact that it existed at all.
After all, what exactly is the point of a ‘pre-match jersey?’ Well, they have existed for years now, especially at the biggest clubs. Celtic can rightly point out that it is a shirt in which players warm up ahead of kick-off, and that the £60 product offers supporters a cheaper option at the online store.
Maybe, but players usually cover it with a bib, and cynics see it as a shameless way to extract a few more pounds from the cash-strapped supporter. Celtic had already released their home kit and their third kit.
The away one is still to come. When the pre-match alternative was made available, one or two quipped that they would give it a miss and wait for the post-match kit, the press conference kit or perhaps the ‘walk to the car park’ kit.
None of the banter is unfair, but it’s also true that big clubs are an easy target when it comes to merchandise.
Lacking the television revenue and prize money available in other countries, Celtic would not be doing their job properly if they weren’t exploiting their mass-market potential. And, in the end, you don’t have to buy every kit on offer. You don’t even have to buy one. You just have to hope that the money raised is spent on players who are fit to wear them.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .