Matt O’Riley joined Brighton & Hove Albion towards the end of last summer and finished his debut season with 948 minutes from 23 games.
The Denmark international’s game time was partly restricted due to two injuries, forcing him to spend over 100 days on the sidelines.
On June 4th, the player said he’d become frustrated during his debut season at Brighton because Fabian Hürzeler wasn’t utilising him in his best position. Since then, claims from Italy have covered AS Roma interest.
Later that month, La Repubblica stated the Seagulls would gladly sell him for €25m. Last weekend, Gazzetta dello Sport reported Roma and Brighton have been in negotiations for days and the deal for the midfielder could be closed at €23m.
Thursday’s edition of Corriere dello Sport states Roma sporting director Frederic Massara is working on signing a midfielder and the 24-year-old is his target.
They add O’Riley wants to leave Brighton and is ready to move to Serie A, where he feels he can make a difference. The Giallorossi are in negotiations with the English club, to try and lower the price below €25m.
Scott McTominay, who arrived at Napoli from Manchester United last summer, had an impressive debut season in Italy.
The newspaper states: ‘After all, his colleague McTominay had a sensational performance in Serie A with Napoli, he [O’Riley] hopes to be able to follow the same path wearing the yellow and red shirt.’
Corriere dello Sport appear to believe the Brighton player is Scottish, while in reality he was born in London and represents Denmark. This isn’t the first time they’ve got his nationality wrong as they also did so in their report on June 24th.
