Matt O’Riley, an English born chap, took his first breath on the frosty day of 21st November 2000. A rugged, diligent midfielder by trade, he's no stranger to the midfield battle, priming himself predominantly for action at Centre Midfield. Standing 1.87m (around 6ft 1in) tall and weighing a hefty 77kg (around 12st 1lb), O’Riley dons the number 33 Celtic shirt, serving the bhoys with diligence.
In the 2023 - 2024 season, the lad featured in no less than 37 Premiership skirmishes for Celtic. Surprisingly enough, he banged in 18 goals during this particular campaign, all from the starting line-up. That's not to mention his endeavours on the European stage, securing his position for six games in the Champions League. O’Riley also made himself counted in the Scottish Cup with five starts to his name, notching up one goal in the process.
Tracing back his career, we find that O’Riley cut his teeth with Fulham down in the English Premier League. Joined as a trainee in July 2009, his time there was far from spectacular. Shipped off to MK Dons in January 2021 for a fee left undisclosed by the bookkeepers, his spell was rather short-lived as he found himself on the move yet again. Barely a year later, in January 2022, he was sold to Celtic for approximately £1.5m. With only one first team appearance in his debut season (2019-2020) at Fulham, one could argue his career truly took off after leaving England.
Donning the Celtic green, O'Riley quickly made a name for himself in our neck of the woods. In his first season (2021-2022) at Parkhead, he played 16 times for the first team, scoring four goals. The next season (2022-2023), saw him enhance his contributions to 38 appearances and three goals. His performance in his third season (2023-2024) stood out, with an impressive haul of 18 goals from 37 games. As for the upcoming season (2024-2025), no doubt O'Riley will continue to patrol the midfield for Celtic.
