Matt O’Riley was helped off the pitch by Brighton’s medical staff just 8 minutes after his debut for the club. Seagulls made him the most expensive player in Scottish football history with a transfer fee of £26 million, which could rise to £30 million with add-ons from Celtic.
This deal set a record for the highest fee received by a Scottish club, breaking the previous record held by Celtic when they sold Jota to Al Ittihad for around £25 million.
Just one day after his debut, O’Riley was in the starting lineup for Brighton against Sussex Crawley Town in the League Cup. Although Seagulls won 4-0, O’Riley was forced to leave the field after only 8 minutes due to an injury from a rough tackle by Jay Williams. He was replaced by Mark O’Mahony.
Brighton fans expressed their disappointment over the player’s misfortune. Hurzeler stated that O’Riley’s injury could be serious, hoping it is not too severe.
O’Riley is Brighton’s 8th summer signing, raising their total spending to £200 million, second only to Chelsea in Europe.
In the match against Crawley, Brighton also introduced another new signing, Ferdi Kadioglu, a left-back from Fenerbahce for £25 million plus £4.2 million in add-ons. Kadioglu signed a 4-year contract with The Amex and gained prominence after his performance at EURO 2024.
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