The Hoops midfielder came off the bench in the victory over St Mirren after a lengthy sideline
Martin O’Neill believes it’s ‘clear’ why teams are interested in Arne Engels upon his first Celtic appearance in two months.
The Belgian was the subject of a £25m bid in January from Nottingham Forest, which was rejected by Celtic. Subsequently, Engels has been in the Celtic treatment room for the past two months after suffering a thigh injury against Livingston.
Having trained with the team for the past fortnight, the 22-year old made his long-awaited Celtic return in their 1-0 over St Mirren after coming on for Benjamin Nygren around the hour mark. The midfielder was praised by his manager for his 30 minute cameo, who is glad to have him back for the title race run-in.
No surprise in Premier League interest for Engels
O’Neill, who won two European Cups with Forest as a player, said of his midfielder: “Arne did really well and gave us a bit of stability. He wasn’t making lung-bursting runs but he was getting himself into it. That was good considering he was out for so long. He is a strong lad. You can see why teams are interested in signing him, in particular the offer from Nottingham Forest before the closure of the transfer window.”
Engels has been a player that O’Neill has put a lot of faith in over both his Celtic spells this season. When the Belgian signed for £11 million from German side FC Augsburg in 2024, he came with quite the reputation based on his price tag alone. While Engels hasn’t proved to be consistent thus far in his Hoops career, the lucrative bid from Forest indicates that they will be able to earn a healthy profit on him in the future.
In the match itself, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first half strike proved to be the difference as Celtic recorded their third successive 1-0 league win over the Buddies. The match marked the return of the Green Brigade following the lifting of their five-month suspension. O’Neill praised the crowd after the match, claiming they kept Celtic going despite a shaky performance. He also waxed lyrical about the eventual match-winner, who has added some experience and quality to the Celtic midfield.
O’Neill on Green Brigade impact and Oxlade-Chamberlain
The Hoops boss said: “I thought we didn't play very well. I thought the energy levels looked low. If it had been, say, the last 10 minutes of the game, you're holding on to something, you can understand that. But no, it set in pretty early in the second half, which is a bit of a concern. We'll try to rectify that if we can next week. Just winning is really important, but we didn't play well.
“I thought the crowd were great to us because they could easily have got irritated with some of the things we did. We were loose in possession at times. They kept us going. A bit like against Dundee last weekend, which had a big effect on us staying in the game after Dundee had equalised. I thought they were great. If by the end of the season, we could get a few things rectified, cleared up, call it what you will. It felt like a real Celtic Park atmosphere.
“He's [Oxlade-Chamberlain] won the two games, which may be important at the end, who knows,” said O’Neill. You can see he's got a bit of class about him. This lad played for England at the time that they had a lot of good players - they still have. It's just a case of fitness with him. Regardless of training with Arsenal for a couple of months, which he had done, at the end of it all, you still have to play games.”
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