Arne Engels is ‘unhappy’ that Celtic have denied him the opportunity to join Nottingham Forest, it is being reported.
The Premier League strugglers have had three bids rejected for the midfielder in their late push for a midfielder on Deadline Day.
Their third offer, worth up to £25 million, was rejected by Celtic with just hours of the English window remaining, with the Hoops standing firm over the 22-year-old.
Martin O’Neill has been clear on Engels, insisting that the deal will only happen if the Parkhead hierarchy receive a £100 million offer.
Engels has reportedly taken exception to this, having been denied a move to the English club.
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Arne Engels ‘unhappy’ with Celtic decision
This was very much a last-minute story to emerge on Deadline Day, with no inkling of Forest’s interest until the final days of the window.
RB Leipzig had previously been linked with Engels, but instead went on to prioritise a move for Rocco Reitz of Borussia Monchengladbach.
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But after the offers over the last 24 hours, the Daily Record now report that Engels is ‘unhappy’ to have been denied the move.
The report says that the Belgian was keen to speak to Forest and felt that a ‘fair offer’ was rejected for his services.
The valuation of the offer was not the reason why it was rejected; the timing was. The chances of Celtic replacing Engels after such a late move were next-to-zero.
And with the Hoops in the midst of a title race, Engels’ new-found importance to the side under O’Neill made the deal a non-starter.
A £25 million move would’ve meant that only Matt O’Riley had ever exceeded Engels’ fee when leaving Scottish football.
But regardless of whether he feels hard done-by, Engels will remain a key figure in the remainder of the Hoops’ season.
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Sean Dyche on Celtic man Arne Engels
Speaking on Forest’s plans for transfer deadline day, Sean Dyche said: “We’ll see. The squad in general is good.
“There has been noise about up front, and then all of a sudden T (Taiwo Awoniyi) pops up with a goal and reminds us that he’s capable.
“And then we have got big Lucca come in as well. Different areas of the pitch. Left-back is possibly an area we could look at and midfield to bolster it up.
“We have still got a lot of games to play. There are varying things. We are being linked with loads of players so we’ll see which ones we can land.
“There’s two or three I know of, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to get them and it doesn’t mean we are going to sign all of them either.”
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