Arne Engels

The figure that is mentioned most when discussing Arne Engels and assessing the start he has made to his Celtic career is undoubtedly his £11m price tag. Mentioned less is his age, with the Belgian internationalist coming to a new country with that fee on his shoulders at just 21.


Despite widespread perceptions that he has yet to live up to expectations over the piece, his opening goal for his side against Motherwell on Boxing Day was his fifth in 23 appearances already – though admittedly, four of those have come from the penalty spot. What it all adds up to though, at least in his own estimation, is a more than satisfactory start to life at Celtic.


His manager, Brendan Rodgers, spoke about Engels in the aftermath of the win over Motherwell, saying that he has been hugely impressed by the ability in training, and that he is starting to see that demonstrated more consistently on a matchday too. And, crucially, that there is much more to come.

Engels himself has echoed that sentiment, taking the time to look back over his first four months in the country after making a valuable contribution to Celtic’s latest victory. “I think it's always nice to help the team,” Engels said.

“That's why I'm here. That's why everybody's here is to help the team win. So that's the most important thing. It's always nice to grab a goal then and to help the team like this. So, yeah, it was a nice afternoon. Everybody knows that you need to perform here and everybody is doing really well



Everybody's pushing each other. So, that's a really nice competition into the team and that helps us also to perform every game. I think everybody is performing really well and then you get wins. It's been really nice. Everybody's really nice to me. Also settling down here, it's been amazing. It's an amazing country actually. So, it's all been easy for me.

“In the team, the boys are amazing. They're all fantastic guys that we can love every day. So, it has been really enjoyable actually. Just the people [are my favourite thing about Scotland] actually. Everybody's so nice to each other. That makes me feel really welcome here.

“Also, of course, you have really beautiful places here in Scotland. The city is also nice. So, it has been really nice.”



His penalty prowess may have inflated his scoring stats somewhat, but he still has to stick them away, and in important moments such as the one he faced on Thursday, Engels seems completely unfazed. “I'm always training on it,” he said.

“It's not really something that I'm really thinking about or something. I'm just training it like everybody's training and everybody's ready to take it. So, like you saw in the cup (final), everybody is taking them really well. And that's the most important thing that we can all take a good penalty and that we can all score.

I think I'm just confident in my shooting abilities. So, that makes it more easy for me to take a penalty. I think it's nothing really special that I'm thinking about.

“I'm just doing it.”

What Engels also seems to be doing then is slowly winning over any remaining sceptics, and he will be hoping to follow up his performance against Motherwell with another good showing against St Johnstone tomorrow to stake a claim for a starting place against Rangers in the New Year derby.


Not that he would ever admit to thinking that far ahead, just yet. “I think we showed already every week that we are in a good place,” he said.

“It's now just up to us to keep the focus and keep working on the next game. I think we showed already a few weeks and a few months that we are ready for every game. I think it's the same for the next one. We just talk about the next game. We talked about this game, now we're talking about the next game. We see every game by itself, and we don't look forward [beyond that] because then you forget the important things of the next games.

“You need to win every game here, so you need to be focused every week.”

 

The lick he gets on the ball is sensational

 

Been much better now that he seems to have settled and has a few mates in the squad. Was happy to see him at the darts with a few other players. Only gonna go from strength to strength

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Much better today from him, like he was when he first came in. It’s not settled etc now for me, it’s that he’s a young player and a certain level of inconsistency we need to expect.

His fee has made criticism go overboard on him and his inexperience and potential be ignored to an extent. If his performance against Motherwell is the start of another run of form, if it dips again, which is likely for a guy his age. Then we need to remember that as a fanbase.

Rodgers has talked about him more than any single player I can remember from him, and controlled the narrative, and it’s been masterful how he has.

 

Another good game and a cert to start vs huns now I think.

Some people need to calm the * down and stop writing off players after a few months.

 

Wee man was brilliant


Deserved man of the match award

 

Lovely cross for Kyogo, Bernardo should still be starting ahead of him for me though

 

Excellent again.

 

That was what we were looking for..

Outstanding and proper box to box..

Involved in most that was good about us today. Was full of confidence. Looked quicker and sharper. Pressed loads. Strong in the challenge..

Most complete performance..

 

Looking much better the last 2 games.

He needs time

 

Getting better every game now, back to his early form and ripping it up. Fantastic player.

 

His best game for us, was excellent midweek as well.

Bit of a headache for Rodgers on who to start between him and Bernardo for the huns.

 

Another excellent performance in the bag so pleased for him. Lovely ball for Kyogo’s goal and I’m glad he got MOM!

 

Far far better. Hopefully it was just a confidence thing and he's back on it.

 

Seems a strong character who wants to be playing a leading role.
Deserved motm

 

Good again today, much more like it from him the last couple of games.

 

Well done.

Not easy to cope with the pressure and I’m sure he’ll figure it all out.

 

Brilliant. Love him.

 

Fully deserved man of the match today.