While Newcastle United were off embarrassing themselves in Australia Eddie Howe’s scouting team were closer to home looking over a player just north of the border.
According to The Chronicle, Newcastle’s recruitment team were despatched to have a look at Danish international with the not-at-all Danish name, Matt O’Riley of Celtic as the Scottish Premier League champions beat St Mirren 3-2.
O’Riley has had a phenomenal season with The Bhoys registering 19 goals and 18 assists in 48 appearances across all competitions and as a result, has caught the attention of several Premier League sides.
Those numbers are even more amazing when you consider that O’Riley isn’t even a forward, instead playing in the midfield for Celtic.
O’Riley is being tracked by Leicester and Leeds too
Currently, O’Riley’s most prominent admirers are Leicester City and Leeds United the latter will be hoping to join the former in the Premier League today after competing in the play-off final against Southampton.
Should Newcastle make their move, you’d expect they’d be able to offer more than either of those sides in terms of money and potential.
However, it’s worth noting that as good as O’Riley’s stats are, they came while playing in Scotland for the most dominant side, so we would likely not see anywhere near that kind of return in the Premier League.
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Centre midfield may not be a priority for The Magpies
That being said, though, you don’t get that many goal contributions by being rubbish either, so he’s clearly doing something right.
The 23-year-old is under contract until 2027 so Celtic are in a strong position to negotiate a fee and with that in mind, it’s unlikely that Newcastle will get their man without paying an exorbitant fee.
It could be an interesting one to keep an eye on, although we’re not really sure that midfield is a priority position to strengthen this summer with Sandro Tonali set to make his retu 
rn early next season.
