Brendan Rodgers shuts down what he’s heard people say about Arne Engels & Matt O’Riley at Celtic

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Arne Engels arrived at Celtic in the summer as the club’s record signing after joining from Bundesliga side Augsburg.

The young Belgian was just 20 years old when Brendan Rodgers opened up Celtic’s chequebook to splash £11.5m on Engels.

Since then, Engels has made 19 appearances for Celtic scoring three goals and creating six but has found himself flitting in and out of the first-team lineup.

Arne Engels was brought to Celtic as Matt O’Riley made his exit to Brighton in the summer. Unfortunately for the young Belgian, that made people look at him as the direct replacement for the Danish midfielder.

But Rodgers said that’s exactly what Engels isn’t as he explains how the 21-year-old differs from the former Celtic favourite.

Brendan Rodgers says Arne Engels needs time to settle at Celtic

Rodgers told BBC Radio Scotland, “I just think it’s time. I think it’s well documented, as I mentioned before, but Nicolas Kuhn and Paulo Bernardo at this time last year, people wonder, what type of player is he?

“Nicolas Kuhn, is he the type of player that’s going to suit style? And you see, with time, those players have then really developed, and that’s the culture that we have.

“And I expect exactly the same from Arne.”

Rodgers tells the truth about Arne Engels and Matt O’Riley at Celtic

“He’s a young player [Engels] with a great attitude,” continued Rodgers, “A great mentality, he wants to learn so that means he’s one of us and he has good scope to really push on.

“And I think the challenge for him was that he had come in, and it looks like he’s a direct replacement for Matt O’Riley. And he’s not that.

“Arne was one that we felt we needed a greater physicality in the league and in the Champions League in particular.

“But he’s one. He plays as an eight, but can also play as a six. He’d probably say Matt as an example was more on it but could play as a 10, but we felt that’s what we needed.

“And if you look at all his figures in the Champions League, his running ability, that has really helped us improve.

“So we’ll make other strides and other steps in that position to keep continuing, maybe with the creativity. But Arne, for me, is a player with his mentality and with his attitude, he will improve over the coming years.”

At just 21, Celtic have got Engels just at the perfect time of his fledgling career. With a manager like Rodgers who has a proven track record at developing young talent, the Belgian midfielder will learn from one of the best coaches in the game.

Having just made the breakthrough to the senior Belgian national team at such a young age, Engels has proven he has the genuine quality to be selected for a team ranked eighth in the world by FIFA.

Celtic has a brilliant young talent on their hands and, as Rodgers says, if he’s given time, he could become one of the best players to don the green and white Hoops.