Engels, Sanches and Endo – 7 Matt O'Riley replacement options for Celtic as record fee set to spark splurge

Matt O'Riley is closing in on a record-breaking move to Brighton and while it will bank Celtic a massive fee, it leaves Brendan Rodgers with work to do.

The English Premier League outfit hope to green light a deal worth more than £25million over the course of the next few days and the Hoops fan favourite could even make his debut for his new club against Manchester United this coming weekend. The big fee will eclipse the one netted from Arsenal for Kieran Tierney and for Jota from Al-Ittihad last summer.

His exit from the Scottish champions will see the club crank up their efforts to bring in reinforcements in the engine room with a number of names already linked with coming in the door. It is believed Rodgers wants to fill a number of positions before the window closes at the end of the month including left-back. That list is reported to include TWO midfielders as he looks to strengthen his ranks further and boost numbers ahead of balancing domestic and Champions League football. Of course, he faces a major task replacing O'Riley but Record Sport has picked out seven names who have been mentioned as the ones who could take on that key duty.

This one would likely get the backing of the Celtic support. The 20-year-old has been a top performer at German side Augsburg but would set the Hoops back around £10million. For that sort of fee, big things would be expected from the Parkhead faithful from the off but it is not a price tag that the champions would baulk at due to the cash reserves they have in the bank.

Rodgers may have given a hint at the sort of price tag market he is working as he seeks to deliver the best money can buy. Speaking last week, he stated: “It's the level of risk. You can sign a player for £1-2m,