Swansea City must rue £1.5m transfer miss, Celtic were laughing - 'I just can't understand it' | OneFootball

FLW's Swansea fan pundit echoes the frustration of the fanbase at missing out on Matt O'Riley in 2022

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Many football fans wonder about the transfer targets that got away and performed well, and for Swansea City supporters, recent history brings them to Matt O'Riley.

The Danish midfielder was close to signing for the Swans in January 2022 while Russell Martin was in the dugout. O'Riley had excelled under Martin whilst at MK Dons, and the then-League One side were ready to accept a £1.5 million bid for him.

Unfortunately, the Swansea owners at the time, Jason Levein and Steve Kaplan, couldn't find the funds to bring O'Riley in, and he instead moved to Celtic, where he tore apart the Scottish Premiership and earned a £25 million move to Brighton and Hove Albion.

The talent was clearly there to be seen at MK Dons, and the failure to bring him in and oversee his devlopment in South Wales is still something that frustrates the vast majority of Swansea fans.

Will Hughes, FLW's Swansea fan pundit, echoes this sentiment, and feels that the decision summed up the owners at the time.

Swansea City fan pundit reflects on missed Matt O'Riley opportunity

The saga of Matt O'Riley and Swansea is something which haunts Swans fans, and Hughes admitted that this story "gets brought up pretty much every single season since it happened.

"I remember I was traveling from Heathrow Airport, it was deadline day, and there was all this umm-ing and ahh-ing over whether we would sign Matt O'Riley or not.

"It all looked pretty positive because he used to be managed by Russell Martin, he was doing very well at MK Dons, looked a real prospect and played in a position we pretty much needed, as we played with two 10s at the time with the three-back system."

Russell Martin was the man who brought O'Riley to MK Dons as a 20-year-old following his release from Fulham, and under Martin, the Dane started 22 straight League One games following his debut.

It was the following season after the manager left for Swansea that he came into his own, starting each of the opening 26 league games before his January move, scoring seven and assisting five as he helped his side compete in the top six in the third tier.

The silky attacking midfielder fit Russell Martin's style and 'The Swansea Way' perfectly, so it seemed a no-brainer that, if he were to be moving on in January 2022, it would have been to South Wales.

"He would have slotted in perfectly, he knew the manager, and it just looked like a signing that made sense. I looked at his highlights and thought he was an exciting player and hoped he would come in," Hughes continued.

"I remember going for food, and then coming back to the news that we hadn't signed him, and we'd gone for Hannes Wolf, who was decent and a good little signing, but there were still rumours that O'Riley would come.

"But then we had the news that it definitely wasn't happening, and we'd rather put our money into Nathaniel Ogbeta, only for Wolf to then play in his position and Ogbeta left Swans a couple of years later, playing less than 10 times."

Blame placed on Swansea City ownership after missing out on Matt O'Riley

Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan didn't have the best of tenures as Swansea owners, having overseen relegation from the Premier League in 2018 and multiple failed attempts of getting back.

Not many Swans fans hold them in high regard, and not forking out as little as £1.5 million for someone who would end up being sold for over 15x that amount just two-and-a-half years later only adds fuel to the fire.

"You look at O'Riley's career since leaving MK Dons, he ripped apart the league in Scotland, and got a big money move to Brighton, where he hasn't played much, but he's a wonderful talent," Hughes added.

"His ceiling is still through the roof, and it just makes me think what on earth our board were thinking at the time. I just can't understand it.

"Not even from a financial sense, you just have to look at him. He's doing really well in Ligue 1 right now, scoring goals and getting assists. He's still young, can play a variety of positions, but they didn't want to sign him, and instead bring in a left-wing back for the same amount of money?"

"You could tell O'Riley was going to go right to the top, but Ogbeta's signing, I just didn't understand. It was very underwhelming."

Ogbeta made just three appearances at Swansea after his arrival, and was released from his contract in 2024, where he made a move to Plymouth Argyle.

When you compare the two prospective signings, it's night and day, and missing out on O'Riley still haunts Hughes and his fellow Swansea fans today.

"It's a signing that we think of frequently, and it's one of the big what if's, because who knows what would have happend if he came in, and we ended up with that crazy bit of profit when he was sold elsewhere?," Hughes questioned.

"It's incredibly frustrating, because he was certainly on the radar, it was just a case of the owners rather putting their money somewhere else, and in terms of getting that other number 10, they'd rather get a loan because it would have been cheaper.

"Instead of investing in the club, they'd rather get a short-term deal, and that just says it all, so yeah, very frustrating."