Barry Ferguson comes to the defence of Arne Engels at Celtic amid question marks

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Arne Engels has started life at Celtic in a mixed fashion.

When Matt O’Riley left Celtic for Brighton in the summer, there was a lot of pressure for the powers that be to bring in fresh faces to replace the departed superstar.

Engels secured a record transfer to Celtic, so in that sense, he stood out more than anyone else, but Luke McCowan was also added to the squad from Dundee.

This time last season, Celtic fans were chanting ‘sack the board’ after the defeat to Hearts, with many unhappy with the club’s recruitment.

But what that showed, and many individual players have proved this, is that patience is a virtue because you can no longer hear those groans anymore.

With time, certain players have come to the fore and are now thriving in Celtic colours, including January capture Nicolas Kuhn.

Paulo Bernardo is now pushing for starts and O’Riley himself was an unknown figure when he first arrived from MK Dons, before transforming into the best player in Scotland.

That’s perhaps a sign to the critics to stay off Engels’ back, as an unlikely source in Barry Ferguson was also coming to the midfielder’s defence.

Barry Ferguson says Arne Engels has ‘the quality’ to succeed at Celtic

Engels arrived from Augsburg and the Bundesliga, which is seen as a far tougher league than Scotland’s top-tier, but he hasn’t played for a club like Celtic before.

The pressure and expectations are far different and much heavier, plus, sometimes, as Kuhn showed, players just need time to settle into a new country and get used to things.

Engels is no different and that was highlighted by Ferguson, who told Go Radio, that ‘you can see the young guy has quality’.

“In terms of Engels, I say this to a lot of people,” said Ferguson. “This is a tough place to come and play your football in Scotland.

“Look, the quality might not be as high as other leagues. But, I tell you what, see when you come up against these teams, certainly when you go away from home, they are tough games. People are desperate to beat you.

“Plus, the amount of responsibility that goes on you. The expectation on you to win football games. Maybe Engels hasn’t been used to that before and it may take him a bit of time. But you can see the young guy has got quality. He is just going through one of those times where he has had a few off games. Sometimes, it might be great to take him out of the limelight for two or three games. Bring him on, and start to get his confidence back up. But you can see he has quality the young man.”

Engels’ stats for Celtic

Celtic take on Aberdeen in a top-of-the-table clash on Wednesday night and many are debating if Engels should start at Pittodrie.

Rodgers made wholesale changes as Celtic thrashed Ross County at the weekend, including the Belgium international being rested, as Bernardo and McCowan both came in and impressed.

In Engels’ early months as a Celtic player, WhoScored have rated his performances in a pretty respectable manner, with a 6.91 rating in the Champions League alone.