Matt O’Riley is the footballer who took two steps backwards to make a gigantic stride to the top.
It has been a remarkable journey to the Premier League with Brighton & Hove Albion for O’Riley, their match winning substitute against Manchester City on Saturday, and before that into the Champions League at Scottish giants Celtic.
Such giddy heights were a distant dream when he regularly made 140-mile (225km) round trips from the family home in Thames Ditton — a village on the banks of the River Thames, in London’s south-western commuter belt — just to train with then third-tier club Milton Keynes Dons.
A year spent with the Dons side catapulted O’Riley first to a Celtic move, then to international recognition with Denmark, before a £25million ($32m) switch this past summer to Brighton.
The acceleration in O’Riley’s career has provided spectacular vindication of his decision at 19 to reject a new contract offer from Fulham, where he had been on the books for 11 years. The choice to sever ties when the west London club had just been promoted to the Premier League in summer 2020 — after one appearance for them in the Championship — was even bolder, considering he had nowhere else lined up and this was happening at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the UK at a near-standstill, O’Riley spent time training alone, or in a park with his father, until Russell Martin, MK Dons’ manager at the time, invited him to train with them.
Dean Lewington, MK Dons’ long-serving club captain, tells The Athletic: “I knew nothing about him, really. He turned up to train at the back end of pre-season. We knew he had come from Fulham and there had been some sort of contract dispute, but at that time so many trialists were coming in and out. Everyone’s got a story. We didn’t really speak to him that much. He was just there.
“I have a friend who is a Fulham fan. He messaged me and said that he was a good player and they had high hopes for him at Fulham. He was training with us for almost four months. Sometimes he would be away for a week and then come back. It just seemed to go on forever. It was as if the situation wasn’t resolving.”
After a trial with Belgian top-flight side KV Kortrijk did not lead to a move, compensation was agreed with Fulham for O’Riley to join MK Dons on a permanent basis. It was the catalyst for him to shine more than he had in relentless training sessions.
“He had a lovely left foot and was composed on the ball, without ever looking outstanding,” Lewington says. “He was just a nice, competent player. It wasn’t really until we signed him and he started playing games that you saw how good he actually was.
“I think training must have been hard for him, knowing there were no games at the end of it.”
In the space of a prolific year at MK Dons, starting in January 2021, under two different managers, O’Riley showed the talent that attracted Celtic. He scored 10 goals and contributed eight assists in 54 appearances, operating as a No 10 or as a deeper midfielder.
The positional switch was made by Lewington for a match while in caretaker charge, a 3-3 draw at Bolton Wanderers in the opening fixture of the 2021-22 season, in between Martin moving to Championship side Swansea City and the appointment of Liam Manning.
Lewington says: “Matt was top of the (No) 10s for us, on the right at the top of the box. We signed Troy Parrott (on loan from Tottenham) and he ended up taking that position. It was actually in my game in charge, against Bolton, that Matt dropped deeper, so I’ll take all the credit for that!
“He suited both positions and he was good enough to do both. In the deeper role, because he was so good, they wanted him involved more.”
Lewington also made O’Riley, 20 at the time, captain for that game against Bolton. “Matt has always been quite quiet, very within himself, but he was very well respected, a leader by example,” Lewington explains. “We felt that giving him that armband might just bring out a little bit more in him. I am not sure if he has done it since, but he is definitely a leader in the way he behaves.”
O’Riley scored the only goal in his final home game for MK Dons against their arch-rivals AFC Wimbledon, watched by a crowd of less than 8,000. Eighteen days later, following a £1.5million move to Celtic, he made his home debut in front of more than 58,000 in a 1-0 defeat of Dundee United.
“For any player, stepping out of the under-23s or a youth team is always tough,” says Lewington. “Some players naturally excel in front of a crowd and with the pressure, some don’t. Matt took to it like a duck to water, the chance to play first-team football. If you look at Russell (Martin)’s team at (Premier League) Southampton now, we were very similar in terms of how we played.
“That suited him as well. He appreciated being in a team that passed. Matt has good, physical attributes but at the same time he has also got a really good brain.
“He is more than just an up-and-downer, he is a smart kid as well. When Russ left, he took on a little bit of a different role with Liam and he was our best player by a long way. You almost felt he was too good for the level after a year, which was a shame for us, but I am delighted for him that he got a great move to Celtic. Denmark Under-21s came at the same time. Things were just really positive for him.
“He was just on that bandwagon. You forget sometimes how young he really was. When he was here, he was only 20, 21. He comes across as a lot more mature than that. He was a young kid, but he was excelling. Unfortunately, he was just too good for us.”
O’Riley embraced the step up in standard with Celtic. He scored 27 goals and provided 35 assists across 124 appearances. Three of the assists last season came in the Champions League, out of 18 in 49 games, to go with his 19 goals across the campaign.
Lewington says: “Russell tried to sign him for Swansea in the summer (2021). He was desperate to get him but, for whatever reason, that didn’t happen. In January, we were hearing about a lot of clubs.
“There were a few that, without being disrespectful, were a little bit uninspiring. Blackpool (also a Championship club at that time) were really keen. I felt he was too good for that, and then Celtic came in. Everyone was so happy for him, it was a great move. Matt is not the type of character to show much emotion. He just said, ‘Yep, I think I’ll go for it’, and that was that. He is very calm. He did great from the moment he went there. They loved him. It was no surprise to anyone, really.
“The level was probably a good stepping stone in terms of intensity and demands. Playing for a club like Celtic was obviously a massive step up — European football. It was a great development for him, but he kind of outgrew Scotland pretty quickly as well in terms of his talent.
“As he is getting older, his physical capabilities are getting stronger. You always felt he was going to end up back in the Premier League.”
On November 23 last year, O’Riley won a first senior Danish cap. He represented England at under-16 and under-18 level but was also eligible for Denmark through his mother Gitte, and for Norway through her father.
His form at Celtic attracted attention from Atletico Madrid and Atalanta, but Brighton won a battle with the Italian club to land the 24-year-old in August. The next day, on his debut, he was left with damaged ankle ligaments after a challenge nine minutes into a 4-0 win over third-tier neighbours Crawley Town in the Carabao Cup.
The injury required surgery and kept O’Riley out until he finally made his first Premier League appearance on Saturday, as a 57th-minute replacement for Jack Hinshelwood. He capped his debut in the division with a calm finish from close range in the 83rd minute to beat the four-in-a-row Premier League champions.
It has been an eventful and unconventional road in the four years since quitting Fulham. Lewington regards Brighton as a “really good” fit for O’Riley to flourish, in the way he did for MK Dons and Celtic, on the next step of his journey.
“He is a very good footballer, very composed. He is a bright kid, he knows positioning, and he’s a good athlete,” Lewington adds. “The way Brighton have been playing for the last four or five years suits him. I am sure he will be great for them.”
(Top photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
