Football
Exclusive: Matt O’Riley Faces Permanent Brighton Exit as Club Plan January Cash-In
Brighton are willing to sell midfielder Matt O'Riley in January. He was loaned to Marseille after struggling to secure a regular starting spot. Everton remains interested in signing the Denmark international, who has played two games for Marseille so far. Brighton’s decision could influence January transfer markets and even odds listed on popular betting sites, as Everton reportedly remain interested in the midfielder.
Greece vs Denmark - UEFA World Cup qualifiication 2025/26 by NurPhoto | Getty Images
Brighton and Hove Albion are happy to permanently sell midfielder Matt O’Riley if the price is right, SportsBoom can exclusively reveal. Want to back your football predictions or follow the latest transfer odds? Check out the best app for betting football and get real-time updates before the next big match.
It looked as though O’Riley had resurrected his career with the Seagulls having started the first two Premier League games of the new season.
But in a surprising turn of events, Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler sanctioned a loan move to Marseille until the end of the season.
And our sources have learnt that the club are willing to sell the Denmark international to the French outfit, or another club, when the January transfer window opens.
O’Riley fell out of favour at the Amex Stadium not long after his high-profile £25million move to the club from Celtic in August 2024.
He got injured in his first game for the club and suffered a frustrating stagnated start, before finally breaking into the team as a substitute.
The 24-year-old has struggled to cement a regular starting role with the team and was linked with a move away this summer despite still having four years left on his current contract.
MOVE TO MARSEILLE
The move to Marseille is said to have been a surprise to O’Riley as well, especially having started the Seagulls’ first couple of league fixtures.
But after decent displays against Fulham and Everton, two games in which he played all but two of the 180 minutes across both fixtures, he was then surprisingly dropped from Hurzeler’s starting side to face Manchester City at home.
Brighton won that fixture, in which O’Riley was an unused substitute, and then left for France soon after with Hurzeler not factoring the midfielder in his plans for the remainder of the season.
O’Riley has been heavily linked with a move to Everton, but any deal never materialised before the latest transfer window slammed shut.
But SportsBoom understand the Toffees would still be interested in signing O’Riley if the fee works and terms can be agreed.
The former Fulham and MK Dons midfielder, who has been capped five times by his country, has played two games for Marseille so far, as a substitute in a 4-0 demolition of Lorient in Ligue 1, as well as a start in a 2-1 Champions League defeat to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu earlier this week.
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.