Brighton & Hove Albion let Matt O’Riley complete a loan move to Marseille on deadline day.
Thursday’s edition of La Province looks at the how the Ligue 1 club wrapped up his signing quickly, Brighton’s plan and what has happened since he moved to France.
The Brighton owned player came off the bench to make his Marseille debut in their 4-0 win over FC Lorient last weekend and made his first start in their 2-1 Champions League defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Roberto De Zerbi used him as an attacking midfielder and the newspaper say the manager’s first impression is he’s an ‘elegant player, technically adept, but so far slow, both in his ideas and their execution.’
They claim the Brighton man has had a ‘lacklustre start’ to his loan spell and hasn’t managed to convince Marseille fans yet. He’ll have the perfect opportunity to shine against Paris Saint-Germain later this week.
La Province then look at his arrival, reporting that it was ‘forced’ because of Marseille’s situation with Adrien Rabiot, who moved to AC Milan.
O’Riley can operate across several positions, and this attracted Marseille, who contacted both his agent and Brighton earlier in the summer window. Their initial approach was blocked by the Seagulls, before the door reopened after his ‘falling out’ with Fabian Hürzeler.
Therefore, the Premier League club reconnected with Marseille and quickly agreed terms for a loan transfer.
La Province report Brighton made a ‘very big bet’ when they invested €30m to sign him in the summer of 2024, and refused to include a purchase option or an obligation as part of the loan move.
