JOE Hart has hailed Celtic for turning down a bid for Matt O’Riley from Atletico Madrid and expressed confidence the playmaker will not let speculation about his future have a detrimental impact on his form.
Spanish club Atletico had wanted to take Danish internationalist O’Riley on loan until the end of the season and then buy him during the summer – but their offer was rejected by the Scottish champions.
Brendan Rodgers last week stressed the midfielder, who has also been linked with La Liga leaders Girona and Serie A challengers Inter Milan in recent weeks, will not leave during the January transfer window.
Hart is pleased that his team mate will be remaining at Parkhead and is certain he will carry on giving his all in the months ahead as Celtic attempt to retain the cinch Premiership and Scottish Cup trophies.
READ MORE: Celtic goalie vows to give his all 'whether people want me or not'
Asked if he thought O’Riley would be unsettled by the interest in him, the former England internationalist said: “That’s for Matt to talk about, I can only support him as a team mate.
“He is an excellent player and someone I love playing with and being a part of from a social point of view. When you play at the levels he’s at people are going to be interested. Such is life. But he shows his commitment every single day to what we’re trying to do and long may that continue.”
READ MORE: How Ross County goalie saved back-to-back Luis Palma penalties
“Powerful moves, powerful moves,” he said. “Cam is a top player and he is loved here, rightly so for the performances he puts in.
“He does it away from prying eyes as well, he is a top professional. I knew him from Tottenham and he is a pleasure to play with.
“I’m the other side of the Cameron and Matt O’Riley situations and I’m pleased about that because I can just focus on playing football.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel