Matt O'Riley admits Celtic brotherhood trio has been 'destroyed' as he sends Carl Starfelt touching farewell
The Dane reckons his trio of best mates has been broken up with Jota away and Carl Starfelt set to seal a move to Celta Vigo.
Matt O'Riley has saluted Carl Starfelt’s trophy-laden Celtic spell as the Swede gets set to seal a move to Celta Vigo.
The 28-year-old is heading out of Parkhead after two silver-lined seasons which yielded five winners' medals. Starfelt intimated a wish to go and, having paid Rubin Kazan just over £4 million for the stopper, Parkhead chiefs are thrashing out a deal with their La Liga counterparts. Boss Brendan Rodgers and the recruitment team are already on the hunt for a replacement with a new defender due to join other arrivals before the close of the transfer window.
O’Riley is sad to see his pal go and says Starfelt’s contribution to recent Celtic success has to be recognised. He said: “From my perspective, Carl has been a really good servant to the club and I think we should appreciate that. I think he has been a very, very important player. He will leave the club having had a really good time here and played some really good football.
“He has won five trophies here in two years, so that’s not bad. I am happy for him and I hope he does really well if he does move, but we have a really good group and it’s football.”
Rodgers handed Starfelt a late outing as a sub in the 4-2 weekend win over Ross County in the knowledge it was a likely farewell. The manager stated immediately that the work was underway to snare a replacement for the Swede and that it was now firmly on the agenda.
O’Riley knows it’s the fast-moving world of the game and said: “Change is part of football, it’s part of life. Especially at a club like Celtic where the demands to play are so high. We have brought Maik [Nawrocki] in, we have Cam [Carter-Vickers], Scalesy [Liam Scales], we have Welshy [Stephen Welsh], we have a lot of depth in that position.
“That is positive and what you need at a club like this when you play so many games. He [Starfelt] is probably one of my best friends here as well, so I’m a bit sad because I am losing all my friends here it seems!”
Asked if he’d miss him as a pal or a team-mate, O’Riley joked: “I think so. Probably more so as a pal to be honest! Me, Carl and Jota were quite close. So the trio has been destroyed. Then there was one. But I have enough friends here, it’s fine. I’m not going to feel sorry for myself!”