‘Against the bigger teams’ – Pat Bonner rates Arne Engels’ first season in Celtic colours out of ten

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It could prove to be the perfect debut campaign for Arne Engels at Celtic if the Treble is secured by beating Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final.

The 21-year-old joined Celtic with a lot of noise around him because he became the club’s record transfer at £11 million.

Added to that, Matt O’Riley had left for Brighton, so one of the key players from the double campaign was out of the picture and it needed to be filled.

When you look back on the overall picture, Celtic as a whole filled that void, from Nicolas Kuhn to Daizen Maeda.

But a lot of eyes and talk have been around Engels this term, especially with that price tag, and it’s fair to say that he has divided opinion.

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Rating Arne Engels’ debut campaign for Celtic

Pat Bonner has watched Celtic up and down the land this season, including in the Champions League, so he would have seen Engels up front.

The legendary goalkeeper stated that he would rate the young Belgium star’s season seven out of ten.

But the one critical point Bonner wanted to make was that he wants Engels to step up in the ‘bigger games’, as he told BBC Radio Scotland.

“I think seven is what I would give him,” said Bonner. “I think he has got all the qualities. He is just learning how to play in a team that dominates.

“But when it comes to those maybe crunch times, maybe against the bigger teams, can he step up and be the difference. He has great qualities. A good passer of the ball. Makes good runs and set-pieces, he has that quality also. Fires in that ball.

“So, all of those good things for a young player are evident.”

Engels’ stats for Celtic this season

Many Celtic players have proven that, if you give them time, then they will eventually go to that next level in the colours of the Scottish champions.

That’s probably what Engels needs, so the critics should save their voices for next season where you should properly judge him.

But, for this current campaign, WhoScored have rated his Premiership performances at over seven, including 6.68 in the Champions League.