Hurzeler 'didn't just butter me up like he could have done' - O'Riley

New Brighton signing Matt O'Riley says manager Fabian Hurzeler's "brutal honesty" helped him make the decision to join the Seagulls.

O'Riley's £25m move from Scottish champions Celtic was confirmed on Monday, with Hurzeler calling the 23-year-old's abilities as a box-to-box midfielder "special".

"Very, very happy," O'Riley told club media in his first interview as a Brighton player. "It's definitely taken a while.

"It got a little bit stressful the past couple of weeks if I'm being honest because the talks were ongoing for a good couple of months, but I'm just really happy to be here now.

"I spoke to the manager as well and he did a really good job of selling the club and we had a really nice chat. He told me where I would fit in in terms of the structure.

"I spoke to a lot of people in regards to the whole feel about the place and the people. I got the impression that everybody was really, really nice and that's something I'd like to be a part of.

"I liked his honesty. He didn't just butter me up like he could have done because I was in a position where there were other clubs looking at me.

"He was just brutally honest in the sense of he can help me with a lot of things as well that I need to improve on.

"I liked the fact he didn't just speak about the positive things because I'm someone that would like to improve a lot and coming to a place like this where everyone wants to improve is something that I was really looking forward to."