How much Celtic will make from Matt O'Riley to Brighton transfer as timeline for record-breaking deal 'revealed'

Brighton will reportedly break the Scottish transfer record after a mega-money swoop to take Matt O'Riley from Celtic was verbally agreed.

The in-demand midfielder was the subject of five bids from Atalanta but the Europa League winners eventually admitted defeat in their pursuit with the Scottish Premiership champions sticking to their asking price - and Celtic look to have now been rewarded with a bumper initial £25million payday. Fabrizo Romano reports that there will also be a series of add-ons that take the package to £30m - with the set to smash the £25m paydays that took Kieran Tierney to Arsenal in 2019 and Jota to Al-Ittihad last summer.

It is now expected that the 23-year-old has played his last game for Celtic and will miss Sunday's clash with St Mirren as he prepares to sign a five-year-deal. Sky Sports claim there is "confidence on all sides" that a deal will be completed this weekend. Going into the game in Paisley, Brendan Rodgers stated that he was still planning on including the midfielder in his squad.

The boss said: “I think in terms of all the speculation and gossip over the last week or so, I am preparing for a five-a-side game at the weekend. There have been so many players linked with going away.

“Matt is no different. There’s nothing concrete. There’s clearly interest in him. At this moment in time we’re very focused on playing St Mirren and until I am told otherwise that’s exactly what we’ll do.”