O’Riley’s statistics are extremely impressive.
Since arriving at Celtic, he has provided more assists than any other player in the Scottish Premiership. With 29 assists, he has six more than Rangers captain James Tavernier.
When you add up goals and assists, O’Riley is third. His 54 involvements put him just two behind Heart of Midlothian striker Lawrence Shankland and seven behind Rangers’ penalty king Tavernier.
O’Riley (217) is only behind Tavernier (275) in terms of chances created and well ahead of his next best player, Kilmarnock winger Danny Armstrong (173). And he is only 10 behind the Rangers player if you only count those from open play.
In terms of the number of touches he has made in the penalty area, O’Riley dwarfs every other player in the Premier League. His 555 is more than Shankland’s 498 and well ahead of his team-mate Daizen Maeda and Bojan Miovski, the striker sold from Aberdeen to Girona this month.
O’Riley is also the fourth-leading scorer in terms of successful crosses, behind Tavernier, Armstrong and former Rangers left-back Borna Barisic – and his 25 goals over the last two years are bettered by only four strikers and this man, Tavernier.
These steadily improving statistics mean that O’Riley may now have overtaken captain Callum McGregor and Japan’s Reo Hatate in terms of importance to Celtic.
The trio has contributed significantly to Brendan Rodgers’ team’s brilliant start to the season.
The manager acknowledged her role last week, saying: “In my career as a coach, the dynamic midfield has always been important.”
“It’s never about one player, it’s always about all three. And I think those three probably only came together in the final stages of last season.”
“And I think you saw the flow and the dynamics and how it all makes the team work.”
Rodgers has repeatedly said he does not want to lose O’Riley, while praising the player’s “phenomenal mentality” in blocking speculation.
Rodgers wants to strengthen his squad before the Champions League and does not rely on funds from a sale of O’Riley.
“I still think we need another player in that position,” he said. “If he left, we would need two more.”
Rodgers has said he doubts he can provide an “equivalent replacement” and that Celtic would not pay “that much money” for a single player.
It is becoming increasingly likely that an offer above the record transfer fee of £25 million that the club paid to sell Kieran Tierney to Arsenal in 2019 will be needed to land O’Riley.
