Matt O’Riley has confirmed that Atletico Madrid made a £18m bid for him in the January transfer window….

Matt O’Riley of Celtic reacts during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and St. Johnstone at Celtic Park on March 16, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Danish Football Magazine Tipsbladet has spoken to the Celtic midfielder at the national team camp in Denmark and took the opportunity to get Matt O’Riley’s understanding on what happened in the January transfer window when Atletico Madrid , Celtic Champions League opponents from the group, made an offer to Celtic to take O’Riley on loan with a commitment to buy in the summer for £18m.

This was of course rejected by Celtic with the club being understood to be looking for at least £25m for the player. Now Matt O’Riley has spoken to Tipsbladet and confirmed that he was cool with the bid coming in from one of the leading clubs in European football.

Matt O’Riley of Celtic controls the ball during the Celtic vs St Mirren Cinch Premiership match at Celtic Park on May 20, 2023 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

He also confirmed that he was never close to leaving Celtic in January as the Atletico bid was considerably lower that Celtic’s asking price and the club are also mindful of the outcome of this season, so selling a top star in January was never going to happen unless the money was right. In this instance it clearly wasn’t.

“Celtic received an offer from them (Atletico Madrid), and that was cool. I wasn’t really close to leaving because Celtic wanted more money,” Matt O’Riley said.

“I’m not upset about it. For me, it was just cool that a club like them would want me. It’s not often you receive an offer from Atletico Madrid, so of course, it’s great.”

Asked about revisiting this and a possible move in the summer , Matt’s reply was ominous. “We’ll see what happens.”