Celtic Hero Matt O'Riley's Brighton Career Handed Lifeline

Celtic have found a way to continue their success from the prior season into the 2024-2025 campaign, and with this, they have had significant squad shuffling take place throughout the year. With big-money exits to fund their arrivals in many cases, they have found the transfer strategy to work out just fine for them as they head towards a fourth consecutive Premiership title win.

With this though, they have had to say goodbye to some fan favourites onwards, such as Kyogo Furuhashi and Matt O'Riley.

O'Riley would be one of the most notable moves made by the club in recent memory, as his transfer still stands at the top of the highest fees in the SPFL at €29.50 million.

As a matter of fact, Jota and Tierney are the next two on the list. The former has already returned, and the latter will do the same in the summer.

O'Riley would move on to Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer. However, his playing time there has been minimal due to the depth in the midfield the English side currently have.

Georginio Rutter was one of the major pieces to Brighton's core, and unfortunately, he would come down with an injury that will keep him out for substantial time, if not the remainder of the season.

This injury would prompt the Brighton manager to discuss the club's options in midfield and it looks like a window of opportunity has opened up for O'Riley. According to the Daily Record, Fabian Hurzeler said: "He (O’Riley) is in great shape. He had some great training sessions.

"He made a great impression. It's also a positive thing that all these players who didn't play so much this season have a big motivation.

"They have a big energy, and I think exactly these kind of characters, with this energy inside of them, we need for the rest of the season. I'm happy that he's there. I'm happy that Brajan Gruda’s there and I'm sure that they will be good replacements for Georgi."

Hurzeler would continue on to discuss the potential options he has for midfield replacements, and why he sees this injury setback as more of an opportunity: "We see more an opportunity and a chance because we always were able to replace the players who were injured.

"It's another chance for Brajan Gruda, another chance for Matt O’Riley, another chance for Eiran Cashin. Lewis Dunk is coming back. So I see it more as an opportunity.

"I will never complain about the injuries. Georgi and Adam were in a great shape, but that's football. We have to deal with it.

"We have had to deal with the injuries this season. We are always a team who were able to replace the injured players and now other players have the chance to step in.

"That's why I'm really looking forward to it – the players who have the possibility now and the chance to start the game or to replace the injured players. They can show their potential and therefore we try to help them, that they can get integrated as quickly as possible."

It is good to hear Hurzeler reference O'Riley as one of the replacement options, but also be excited about the opportunities he is able to present to his other players in light of the injury situation.

Given that O'Riley has only made 17 total appearances this season, 12 of which have come in the Premier League, this could be the opportunity he deserves to show why he was brought in by the Seagulls for such a significant transfer fee in the summer.