Chelsea have joined the list of interested parties for Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley.
The Blues have been eyeing O’Riley as a possible replacement for Conor Gallagher and The Pitch Prospect has learned that he remains willing to sign a new contract despite accepting a £33m offer from Atletico Madrid.
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If the Chelsea Academy product leaves the club, his transfer fee could be used to sign O’Riley – who is valued at £20 million.
Celtic have already rejected offers for the London-born star.
This includes a £14 million offer from Southampton ahead of their return to the Premier League.
Chelsea’s Premier League rivals Crystal Palace and Brighton as well as Serie A club Atalanta are also interested in the 23-year-old.
He is only interested in accepting a transfer that will guarantee him regular playing time.
Chelsea may have to offer more than £20 million plus extras to convince Celtic.
Speaking to Sky Sports about O’Riley, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said: “Matt has been really straightforward because he is such a great professional. The challenge for teams coming to a club like Celtic is that sometimes they put their value on the league rather than the player.
“Of course, in other leagues there are much greater riches than in ours, which allow players to improve their living conditions. We all understand that.
“For me it is important that when a player leaves here, they pay the value for the player and that does not always happen.
“No player will leave here if the value is not right, and right now there is no team that earns anywhere near that much.”
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O’Riley played for the English youth team, but has since played for Denmark because of his Danish mother.
He began his senior career at Fulham before moving to MK Dons in 2021.
A year later, he moved to Celtic for £1.5 million after the Hoops met his release clause.
He gained experience in the Champions League and made a total of 121 appearances.
O’Riley has scored 27 goals and provided 34 assists during this time.
He has also won three Scottish Premiership titles, two Scottish Cups and the Scottish League Cup.