Arne Engels has been one of Celtic’s most-talked-about players.
Mainly because Engels is Celtic’s club-record transfer after he was signed for £11 million from Augsburg during the summer of 2024.
The 22-year-old was a regular under Brendan Rodgers, but he has fallen down the pecking order this term, and pretty much straight away.
When Celtic first kicked a ball this season, Rodgers picked summer signing Benjamin Nygren ahead of Engels. Still, he rotated his XI over the weekend against Hibernian and explained his reasons behind it.
- READ MORE: Ross McCormack shocked Celtic didn’t re-sign Hoops hero ‘tailor-made’ for Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers on why Arne Engels is playing behind Benjamin Nygren
Celtic and Hibernian drew 0-0 at Parkhead on Saturday afternoon, with Engels starting in the middle of the park, alongside captain Callum McGregor and back-up option Luke McCowan.
When speaking about Engels on BBC Radio Scotland, the Celtic manager stated that the midfielder has a ‘very important’ role in the squad, but there aren’t too many players ‘that will be able to cement their place in the team.’
Rodgers added that the reason Nygren has been playing ahead of Engels is due to the goal threat, which he doesn’t think the Belgian star possesses in the same way as the man from Sweden.
“Arne’s role in the squad is very, very important,” said Rodgers. “I don’t think there are too many players, if any, that will be to cement their place in the team.
“But, of course, it’s one where Benji (Nygren) has played in front of him this season, more because of his goal threat. We lost goals out of our team. A lot of goals.
“And Arne hasn’t scored as many goals as, say, what Nygren has done in his career. He is a player who affects, creates goals and scores goals.
“So, for Arne, he just needs to continue what he is doing and provide the goal threat. He works hard. He gives us other qualities that we need within our squad.”
Engels and Nygren’s career goals
Nygren is a few years older than Engels and has also deployed more attack-minded roles throughout his career than his counterpart, which should be noted.
So, whilst Rodgers has used Engels as a number eight this term, he was playing on the flanks for FC Nordsjælland last season.
- Nygren’s career games: 191
- Goals: 52
- Engels’ career games: 150
- Goals: 16
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
