Matt O’Riley: Celtic reject fifth Atalanta bid for midfielder | Football News

Celtic have rejected a fifth bid from Atalanta for midfielder Matt O’Riley.

It is understood the Serie A club’s latest offer was £21.5m, plus add-ons.

Atalanta have been trying to land the Denmark international for over a month with previous bids of £14m, £14.3m, £15m and £20m all rejected by Celtic.

Brighton were also in talks with the Scottish Premiership champions for O’Riley, with Chelsea among a number of other clubs interested in him.

O’Riley, who scored 19 goals with 18 assists in 49 appearances for Brendan Rodgers’ side last season, set up the second of Celtic’s goals in their 4-0 win against Kilmarnock in their Scottish Premiership opener.

The 23-year-old is under contract at Celtic until 2027, with the club knocking back an offer of £20m from Atletico Madrid in January.

Rodgers: Value the player, not the league

Rodgers has previously warned clubs that O’Riley will not be leaving Celtic on the cheap this summer:

“There are obviously bids that will come in for Matt O’Riley but, I repeat, there is no need for us to sell and we don’t want to sell,” he told Sky Sports News.

“If there’s an offer that comes in that fits the valuation of the player then that’s a different matter.

“Until that moment I’m fairly relaxed because he’s training really well, working really hard and until that changes we just continue focused on performing.

“The challenge for teams coming to a club like Celtic is they sometimes can place their value on the league and not the player.

“What’s important for me is if a player does leave here, they pay the value for the player and that isn’t something that always happens.

“No player will leave here unless it’s for the right valuation and at this moment in time there’s been no team that’s been anywhere near that.”