Arne Engels has been sorely missed at Celtic, even if results haven’t fallen off a cliff.
With Callum McGregor absent in the last two matches, Martin O’Neill’s midfield has been down to the bare bones.
Celtic’s signing of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been vindicated, with the Englishman increasingly required with the team missing their captain.
Make no mistake, though: Engels is a crucial presence too.
Is the Celtic midfield too one-dimensional?
Arne Engels’ importance to Celtic
Prior to O’Neill’s initial arrival on an interim basis, Engels had mostly been used as a substitute by Brendan Rodgers.
As O’Neill set about injecting more intensity in a struggling Celtic team, the Belgian became a mainstay.
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Some of Celtic’s best football of the season has been played with Engels in a midfield alongside McGregor and Benjamin Nygren, the Hoops’ current frontrunner for Player of the Year.
He also brought out the best in Reo Hatate in the Celts’ 3-1 win in Rotterdam, after an underwhelming spell for the Japan international.
But though the importance of his selfless running has been well-documented, Engels isn’t just a support act.
In an era of increased emphasis on set pieces, Engels’ deal-ball ability is an asset for any team – Rodgers repeatedly hailed his delivery as world class.
It’s little coincidence that Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest wanted to sign Engels for £25 million, and the fact that Celtic weren’t willing to part with the midfielder for that fee is telling.
There’s no getting away from the fact that the Hoops’ midfield has been a hard watch at times over recent weeks, with Engels’ absence an undoubted reason for this.
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Martin O’Neill on Celtic keeping Arne Engels
Speaking to talkSPORT after the closure of the window, O’Neill said about the Forest interest: “The board turned it down.
“Obviously, it has arrived very, very late in the day, and we had these offers coming in.
“I actually did a press conference, just after our game against Falkirk, unaware that there had been an offer gone in.
“I think the press seemed to get to know about it before the club did. It was very late in proceedings, and the board turned them down, which was, considering the amounts of money that you are talking about. That would be very, very big up here, as you know, that was remarkable.”
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