On Tuesday, Denmark manager Kasper Hjulmand named his squad for the upcoming International break.
Celtic’s Matt O’Riley was not on it.
That wasn’t thought to be the end of the opportunity for the Celtic player, because Hjulmand was expected to call up two further names, and Brendan Rodgers’ man was one of the favourites to be taken.
Now it looks like that won’t happen, and perhaps Celtic’s 6-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid has played a part. The Denmark manager said O’Riley had impressed him when playing against the Spaniards at Celtic Park, but that obviously wasn’t the case in the return fixture.
Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet quote the manager as saying: “Matt is looking really good. We were super happy to get him in and I think he’s been playing good games since then. Especially the match against Atletico at home was good.
“He is a different type of midfielder than what we have. He plays very, very close to the strikers. So he’s a different type and I think he’s done well. I’m sure this is a player we’ll be seeing a lot more of.
“The question is whether this is it, i.e. the next two international matches, when the time may not be right to just do something completely new. That would be a big bet.”
There’s clearly a feeling in Denmark, and especially with Hjulmand, that using the Celtic player would mean a change in approach from the country’s national side, and it’s not felt that it’s worth that step yet.
Still, there’s hope Hjulmand has a change of heart, and potential injury withdrawals could help O’Riley.
