Chelsea have been dealt a potentially damaging transfer blow after Brighton and Hove Albion have reportedly begun talks with Celtic over the signing of Matt O’Riley.

After reaching an agreement with Atletico Madrid worth £33 million for England international Conor Gallagher, Chelsea were almost immediately linked with signing O’Riley as the midfielder’s direct replacement (Sky Sports).

Brighton open talks to sign Celtic’s Matt O’Riley

However, according to a recent report from Sky Sports News reporter Lyall Thomas, Enzo Maresca could be beaten to the 23-year-old after Brighton took the initiative and started discussions with Celtic over a potential summer transfer.

“Brighton are in talks with Celtic over a deal for Matt O’Riley,” the outlet posted on their live transfer blog.

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“They are among a number of clubs keen to sign the midfielder this summer.”

While Gallagher’s move to Atletico Madrid has yet to be officially confirmed, with the 24-year-old heading to Spain for a medical, fans are anticipating an announcement sooner rather than later.

As for O’Riley, clearly admired by a host of top clubs, Celtic will fear they’re going into the SPL’s game week two without the help of their number 33.

Scoring 19 goals and registering 18 assists in 49 games in all competitions last season, O’Riley’s contributions will take a lot of replacing.

The Danish midfielder, who was born in London in 2000, has three years left on his contract with the Hoops.

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The future of Matt O’Riley at Celtic remains up in the air ahead of the new Premier League season as several English clubs have an interest in the midfielder. 

The Denmark international has been with the Scottish Champions since 2022 and is coming off the back of a very impressive 2023/24 campaign, in which he produced 19 goals and 18 assists across 49 games.

O’Riley has a contract at Celtic Park until 2027 but his performances last season have attracted the interest of several clubs in the Premier League.

Sources have told CaughtOffside that West Ham United and Leicester City have shown strong interest in the midfielder; however, both English sides are hesitant about meeting Celtic’s £25m asking price.

Despite this, both teams are prepared to make a move for the 23-year-old and are ready to enter negotiations to try and come to an agreement to sign the player ahead of the new Premier League season getting underway next week.

In addition to West Ham and Leicester, Serie A side Atalanta have made multiple attempts to sign O’Riley, with their latest proposal around the €18m mark. Although Celtic rejected this offer, the Italian club are ready to make another attempt to sign the midfielder.

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Could Celtic’s Matt O’Riley replace Conor Gallagher at Chelsea?

Conor Gallagher looks set to leave Chelsea this summer and complete a move to Atletico Madrid as part of a €40m deal.

The Blues could look to replace the English midfielder in their squad before the transfer window shuts and sources have said that O’Riley is being viewed as a potential replacement.

Celtic will continue to demand £25m to part ways with the 23-year-old this summer as it remains to be seen if any of the interested clubs submit an official proposal over the coming weeks.

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Chelsea are keen on Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley as they assess potential replacements for Conor Gallagher according to Sky Sports. 

The Blues have agreed a fee worth around £34 with Atletico Madrid for the England international, who is expected to give his final answer on Monday.

Gallagher’s future has been a topic of conversation for the last 18 months and it’s been reported that he rejected three offers of a new contract from Chelsea.

O’Riley a potential Gallagher replacement

Chelsea have only offered Gallagher a two year deal with the option of a further 12 months as they have doubts over his suitability for Enzo Maresca’s system.

The new deal would see a pay rise for Gallagher, but he’s believed to want a longer term deal like many of his team-mates have signed.

If Gallagher decides to join Atletico Madrid it remains unclear if Chelsea would go into the market for a replacement given the options they have in the middle of the park.

However, Sky Sports have reported that Celtic midfielder O’Riley is one of several options the Blues are keen on.

O’Riley impressed for Celtic in their 4-1 win over Chelsea in pre-season, and he’s attracted interest from Serie A side Atalanta as well as newly promoted Southampton.

The 23-year-old scored 19 goals in 49 appearances in all competitions for Celtic last season and is under contract with the Scottish Champions until 2027.

It doesn’t make a huge amount of sense for Chelsea to replace Gallagher if he departs given they have already signed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and they also have talented youngster Andrey Santos on their books.

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Not to mention the club also have Carney Chukwuemeka in the squad so the need for another midfielder seems unnecessary, but Chelsea have done a lot of things in the market that don’t make sense.

If a move for O’Riley were to materialise it would be hard to view it in any other way than just stockpiling talent.

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News that Liverpool are open to offers for their left-back will surely rock supporters back on their heels.

The Reds have been amongst the quietest teams so far in the summer transfer window, and arguably players coming into the club should be foremost in the minds of those in charge of the first team.

Liverpool could allow Owen Beck to leave the club this summer

As of this moment, despite any rumours or links, there is a distinct lack of incoming transfer news, with the only piece of potentially confirmed business relating to Owen Beck.

According to Sky Sports, both Celtic and Queens Park Rangers have registered their interest in the left-back, with the former happy to do a permanent deal and the latter aiming for a loan arrangement.

Any deal will not be rubber stamped until Liverpool return from their pre-season tour of the USA, though it isn’t clear exactly how much the Merseysiders will want to receive for his services.

Buying clubs will expect him to be competitively priced given that he’s behind Andrew Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas in the pecking order, and former Reds manager, Brendan Rodgers will almost certainly be looking for a favour from his old employers.

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From Beck’s own point of view, a permanent move away may well be preferred given that he’s already had a loan spell at Dundee, though his final destination and type of move clearly depends on a number of factors.

With almost a month left of the current window, Liverpool have plenty of time in which to be able to evaluate any offers, and the club have the luxury of being picky given that there’s no apparent need to sell the player at this point.

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West Ham United’s pursuit of Portuguese forward Jota looks set to hit a financial snag. 

The Hammers have been heavily linked with the 25-year-old in recent months and, according to Foot Mercato journalist Santi Aouna, even agreed personal terms in January before a move collapsed.

Interest remains with Jota unable to play for Saudi club Al-Ittihad after being dropped from the squad due to the rules in the country and Asia as a whole regarding foreign players.

Jota joined Al-Ittihad from Celtic for £25m in July 2023 (per Sky Sports), netting five goals in 29 appearances since. However, he now finds himself out of favour, with Luiz Felipe, N’Golo Kante, Fabinho, Karim Benzema and Houssem Aouar the foreign players seeing minutes ahead of him.

That was understood to have opened up the possibility of Jota becoming available on the loan market and alongside West Ham, former club Celtic are thought to be interested.

However, according to the Daily Record, Al-Ittihad want Jota’s full £190,000 per week wages covered by any club signing the player on loan.

According to Salary Sport, Celtic’s highest-paid player last season was midfielder Callum McGregor at £37,000 per week. Meanwhile, Lucas Paqueta came out as West Ham’s top earner at £130,000.

Those two salaries combined wouldn’t reach the figure Jota currently earns, meaning it’s highly unlikely either club would be able to afford or sanction such a deal.

According to the Sunday Mirror (via Hammers.News), West Ham could turn their attention to Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson as a possible alternative to Jota.

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Chelsea haven’t had the best start to life under Enzo Maresca and followed up their draw against Wrexham with a defeat to Celtic. 

Maresca’s men put in a disappointing performance, and despite a bright start and creating several opportunities to score, Celtic were a class above and carved through the Blues with ease as they ran out 4-1 winners.

The scoreline could have been more had it not been for a number of saves from Sanchez, whilst Christopher Nkunku scored a late consolation from the spot, his second goal in two games.

Maresca will certainly have been concerned about Chelsea’s defending particularly in the first half, as Celtic were able to get in with ease behind their high line.

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Chelsea are clearly getting used to the new defensive set-up and structure under the Italian, but in the build up to Celtic’s second goal Sanchez could be heard shouting at Wesley Fofana to mark his man, which the Frenchman didn’t do as Kyogo Furuhashi just ran off him to tuck the ball home.

It was lazy defending from Fofana, who was starting his first game in over a year and is something Chelsea will have to improve as soon as possible.

Watch Sanchez scream at Fofana to mark his man

You can hear Sanchez screaming at Wes to mark his man ?
pic.twitter.com/0VabgWJ5jk

— Erm (@CFCErm) July 27, 2024

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Enzo Maresca is pleased with the performances of Marc Guiu and admitted at this point in time the teenager is going to remain at the club.

Guiu was handed his second consecutive start against Celtic and the 18-year-old was one of very few Chelsea players to impress in the heavy 4-1 defeat.

The Blues are reportedly still in the market for a striker to compete with Nicolas Jackson, but if Guiu continues to impress they may shelve those plans.

Maresca impressed with Guiu

Guiu arrived from Barcelona earlier this summer after the Blues activated his €6m release clause, and his signing continues the club’s recruitment drive to sign the best young talent from around  the world.

The Spaniard came through Barcelona’s famous La Masia academy and made seven appearances for the club last season, including scoring on his debut against Athletic Bilbao just 23 seconds after coming off the bench.

Following his move to Chelsea, many people would have expected the youngster to be loaned out to gain more first team experience.

However, the Spain under-19 international has impressed with his performances against Wrexham and Celtic in the absence of Jackson, and Maresca revealed after the game that as things stand the youngster will be part of the first team squad next season.

“The idea with Marc, with all the young players, is to have a look now during the pre-season and then to make a decision altogether,” he told reporters.

“I think Marc is doing well and he’s one of the guys in this moment is going to stay with us and not going to go somewhere.”

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Guiu has impressed in several aspects of his game including his movement off the ball, his pressing and his strength.

Of course it’s early days and many tougher tests lie ahead for Guiu, but so far he’s made a positive start and the striker could end up saving Chelsea millions if they don’t have to dip into the market for another forward.

The post Enzo Maresca drops major hint as he discusses future of impressive Chelsea youngster appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Enzo Maresca believes the difference in the physical conditioning of the teams was the biggest factor in Chelsea’s heavy defeat to Celtic on Saturday. 

The Blues would have been hoping for an improved performance from the draw against Wrexham on Wednesday, but despite a bright start Celtic were a class above and ran out 4-1 winners in Indiana.

There’s no doubt some of Chelsea’s defending would have given Maresca cause for concern given how easy it was for Celtic to get in behind, and the scoreline could have been heavier had it not been for Robert Sanchez making several good saves.

Maresca on biggest difference between Chelsea and Celtic

The Italian made just two changes to the team that started against Wrexham with Mykhailo Mudryk and Wesley Fofana both coming in.

The Blues had early opportunities to take the lead through Carney Chukwuemeka and Christopher Nkunku, whilst Raheem Sterling hit the post in the second half.

Nkunku would score a late consolation from the spot, but the defeat leaves Chelsea with plenty to improve on before their next game against Club America.

Of course with a new manager and new way of playing it’s going to take time to get used to different tactical ideas, and although Chelsea somewhat improved in the second half there’s clearly still a lot of work to do.

After the game Maresca said he felt the biggest difference between the sides was in the physical conditioning.

“For me, it is important to realise the difference between us and them in the physical conditioning,” he told Chelsea’s website.

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“You can see they had already played four games in pre-season and they are starting their official season very soon, whereas for us, we struggled a little bit physically.

“The biggest difference with us and them was the physical condition.

“It is very clear they are ready to start [their league season] and we have just had our second [pre-season] game and some of our players have only played 45 minutes so the difference was huge.”

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UEFA have revealed their latest club coefficient standings ahead of the 2024/25 season and it makes for good reading for Manchester City.

The coefficients are used to determine seedings for draws in UEFA’s club competitions, including the Champions League. The rankings are determined using a points system based on a weighted algorithm that tracks clubs’ continental performances.

The algorithm takes in results across the last four seasons, coupled with a club’s home association ranking. This means that performances from the 2020/21 campaign are taken into consideration for this season’s rankings.

Manchester City sit top of the rankings for the second straight year, while Real Madrid’s 15th Champions League success sees them climb to second above Bayern Munich, who drop to third. Liverpool and Roma round out the top five.

The latter has caused shock among many given Roma have finished sixth in each of the last three Serie A seasons, while they haven’t finished in the top four since 2017/18.

However, the Giallorossi have enjoyed some memorable European runs across the last three years, winning the Europa Conference League under Jose Mourinho in 2022 before reaching the 2023 Europa League final and making it to the semi-final last season. These forays into UEFA competitions have greatly boosted their rankings and have seen them finish above the likes of PSG (6th), Chelsea (9th), Inter (10th) and Man Utd (14th).

Another big shock sees Barcelona slide even further away from the top 10 into 18th, one place above Arsenal and one behind Spanish rivals Atletico Madrid.

Tottenham have also suffered an embarrassing slide to 45th in the rankings — sandwiched between Olympiacos and FC Copenhagen — after missing out on Europe entirely last season.

UEFA 2024/25 club coefficient rankings top 20

1. Manchester City – 123 points
2. Real Madrid – 119 points
3. Bayern Munich – 108 points
4. Liverpool – 96 points
5. Roma – 90 points
6. PSG – 85 points
7. Villarreal – 82 points
8. Dortmund – 79 points
9. Chelsea – 79 points
10. Inter – 76 points
11. Leverkusen – 72 points
12. Porto – 70 points
13. RB Leipzig – 70 points
14. Manchester United – 70 points
15. Benfica – 69 points
16. West Ham – 69 points
17. Atletico Madrid – 67 points
18. Barcelona – 67 points
19. Arsenal – 62 points
20. Atalanta – 61 points

How have the English clubs performed in UEFA’s 2024/25 club coefficient rankings?

• Manchester City – 1st
• Liverpool – 4th
• Chelsea – 9th
• Manchester United – 14th
• West Ham – 16th
• Arsenal – 19th
• Tottenham – 45th
• Leicester – 68th
• Aston Villa – 79th
• Brighton – 80th
• Newcastle – 81st

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The future of Kieran Tierney at Arsenal remains up in the air ahead of the 2024/25 campaign as Celtic will not be able to afford the defender despite both parties being open to a return.

The left-back parted ways with the Scottish giants in 2019 as part of a £25m deal but things have not worked out for Tierney at the Emirates Stadium as the defender struggles with consistent injury issues.

The 27-year-old has missed a lot of games since moving to Arsenal and that resulted in Mikel Arteta losing faith in the Scotland star. The Spanish coach would replace the left-back with Oleksandr Zinchenko in 2022 and has since used multiple players in the role.

Tierney spent last season on loan with Spanish side Real Sociedad, where he featured in 27 games for the La Liga club. However, injury issues struck again as the full-back had problems with his hamstring and missed several matches.

According to Football Insider, Arsenal are ready to accept offers for Tierney this summer despite his contract running until June 2026.

The Gunners may find it hard to move the Scotland star on as the defender unfortunately suffered another hamstring problem during Euro 2024 and is currently trying to recover from his latest setback.

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Could Celtic complete a deal for Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney?

Tierney has admitted that he would like to return to Celtic this summer but according to Football Insider, the Scottish champions are unlikely to be able to afford the Arsenal star’s asking price.

The left-back came through the Hoops’ academy and went on to play 170 times for the Glasgow-based team before leaving in 2019. Celtic is a place close to the defender’s heart and as he continues to deal with consistent injury issues, it is a club where he can return to and feel loved.

It is unlikely that the Scottish club will be able to afford a transfer for Tierney, which leaves Arsenal looking at other options to offload the injury-prone defender.

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