Nottingham Forest have made a £25 million bid for Celtic’s Arne Engels, it is being reported.
In what is developing into the main story of Celtic’s deadline day, the Premier League strugglers are not giving up on their hopes of signing the midfielder.
Martin O’Neill has been steadfast on Engels, jokingly insisting that he will only be let go if a £100 million offer comes in.
This hasn’t discouraged Forest, however, with the club desperately scrambling for a midfielder to aid them in their relegation battle.
And if we know anything about Forest under Evangelos Marinakis, it’s that they aren’t reluctant to spend big on their targets.
Can Celtic afford to sell Arne Engels?
Celtic midfielder Arne Engels.
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Nottingham Forest consider third bid for Celtic’s Arne Engels
Forest’s first offer, worth £14 million, was instantly rejected by Celtic on Sunday.
They returned with a second bid worth over £17 million, but again, the Hoops insisted that the Belgian was not for sale.
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Arne Engels controls the ball during Celtic's Europa League loss against FC MIdtjylland
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But they aren’t done there. Sky Sports News now say that Forest have made a third bid for Engels, potentially worth up to £25 million
It comes as Sean Dyche’s side rapidly scour the market for midfield reinforcements. They have also made offers for Inter Milan’s Davide Frattesi and Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney.
Engels would likely be a more affordable option than those two, but this doesn’t mean that the 22-year-old would come cheap.
With the Hoops in the middle of a title race, any potential sale of a first team starter would not go down well with the Parkhead faithful.
Engels has hit form since the interim return of O’Neill, having directly complained to Brendan Rodgers about a lack of starts.
If he were to be sold, Celtic would be left short in midfield areas, unless they managed to pull the rabbit out of the hat with a late replacement.
You have £10m to spend on deadline day. Name one signing you would make for Celtic
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Sean Dyche on Celtic man Arne Engels
Speaking on Forest’s plans for transfer deadline day, Dyche said: “We’ll see. The squad in general is good.
“There has been noise about up front, and then all of a sudden T (Taiwo Awoniyi) pops up with a goal and reminds us that he’s capable.
“And then we have got big Lucca come in as well. Different areas of the pitch. Left-back is possibly an area we could look at and midfield to bolster it up.
“We have still got a lot of games to play. There are varying things. We are being linked with loads of players so we’ll see which ones we can land.
“There’s two or three I know of, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to get them and it doesn’t mean we are going to sign all of them either.”
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