Matt O'Riley to Brighton silence broken by coy Fabian Hurzeler as Celtic 'open talks' with £9m successor

Coy Fabian Hurzeler couldn't resist a smile when pressed on the signing of Matt O'Riley as the Celtic star inches closer to a mega-money move to Brighton.

The in-demand midfielder is set to leave the Premiership champions in the coming days in a £30m package that will smash the Scottish transfer record - surpassing the £25m paydays that Celtic recouped by selling Kieran Tierney to Arsenal in 2019 and Jota to Al-Ittihad last summer. The 23-year-old is understood to have travelled south of the border with reports suggesting he will pen a five-year-deal at the AMEX Stadium.

The move comes off of a season which saw the Danish international net 18 goals and 13 assists in the league - with Brighton set to see off competition from Atalanta after the Europa League winners saw a series of bids knocked back by the Hoops. But when asked about the incoming signing of O'Riley following the 2-1 win over Manchester United, Hurzeler took a vow of silence - although his face told the full story on TNT Sports. The German boss responded: "Let's see what happens.

"I won't talk about players who are not signed yet. I won't talk about them in public. I think it is important that every player knows the plans with them to give them transparency, but it's not for the public."

As they search for a successor to O'Riley, Celtic have reportedly opened talks with Augsburg over the signing of Arne Engels. The 20-year-old has been on the Hoops radar and they now look to be escalating their interest in the midfielder.

Sky Sports claim the Belgian is "keen" to make the move to Glasgow's east end. Record Sport previously revealed Engels is valued at at between £6m and £9m with the German outfit open to cashing in on one of their prize assets.