Midfield maestro shares transfer preference after Everton talks - report

Matt O’Riley would prefer a move to Serie A with Atalanta after they made an official bid to Celtic, despite holding talks with Everton, according to HITC.

The news outlet has reported (11 July) that the Europa League winners have tabled an official offer for the Denmark international, but Celtic have rejected it as it fell short of their £30million valuation.

Atalanta are preparing a second offer [Sky Sports, 11 July] but Premier League clubs Everton, West Ham, Southampton, Fulham and Brentford have also held talks [HITC, 2 July] over a deal.

Everton dealt blow after new transfer update

It will be a big blow to Everton and Sean Dyche that O’Riley is preferring a move elsewhere over Goodison Park, but in reality, it won’t be a massive surprise either.

Celtic are competing and winning the league most seasons, which means they are playing Champions League football every year too. However, the level of the Scottish league cost him a place at Euro 2024 with Denmark this summer.

He is clearly ready to step up and the Premier League would be a great platform for that, but the teams linked with him won’t be playing in Europe and that would be a backwards step too from his perspective.

But with Atalanta, the midfield maestro can play in Europe and still play in a top-level league, so it’s no shock at all that they are the frontrunners for his signature now.

Dyche will be disappointed, as will fans, but realistically other targets were always more likely to join and this shouldn’t affect summer plans too much if the club were being sensible.

In other Everton news, Jaden Philogene’s destiny has been revealed amid a £13.5m update.

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