Frank McAvennie makes his feelings clear on Arne Engels, as Celtic continue to get ‘bullied’

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It wouldn’t be a surprise if all this Arne Engels talk reignites itself in the summer.

Celtic were put in a spot of bother on transfer deadline day when Nottingham Forest put in several bids for the midfielder.

On the one hand, you can’t reject £25 million for Engels, but on the other, Celtic had no replacements lined up and couldn’t let him go.

Either way, Frank McAvennie made it clear that he would have got rid of Celtic’s club-record transfer well before the £25 million was put on the table.

• READ MORE: What Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has already declared about next move as Celtic push for deal

Should Celtic have sold Arne Engels?

As the Engels bids were coming in, McAvennie told his Let Me Be Frank Podcast that he would have accepted the money for the Celtic man at £17 million.

Of course, it’s easy to say then ‘bring somebody in for £6-8 million’, but the champions of Scotland hadn’t planned for such a situation after the exits of Wilfried Nancy and Paul Tisdale at the start of January.

But that’s when host Simon Houston suggested that Engels would be viewed differently by his critics had he come through the ranks at Parkhead.

McAvennie: “I would have taken it if you had somebody to come in. You get £17 million. Bring in somebody for £6-8 million. Somebody who could sit in there.”

Houston: “If Engels had come through the Celtic youth system and put in the performances he had put in, people would be raving about him.”

McAvennie: “All this nonsense about you have to take time to settle in. In his first three games, he was different class. I thought, ‘Wow, we have a player here.’ Then, all of a sudden, no.

“In a different team, maybe, they will say he will get on our strikers. Put passes in. But I would have taken it.”

Celtic ‘rebuild is required’ in the summer after getting ‘bullied’

One of the gripes McAvennie has with this Engels situation is how Celtic’s midfield has been performing this season.

The former Hoops man pointed towards several matches where the midfield is getting ‘bullied’, as he can’t understand how Engels doesn’t use his size in a better way.

Houston: “He will be away in the summer, I think we can accept that. Celtic or O’Neill are taking the view, ‘No, I need that boy for the run-in. I have a really tough run-in.’

“I think, come the summer, if he is still playing alright, Forest are still interested or another English team, he will be away. We won’t see Hatate either. A rebuild is required. Callum McGregor isn’t getting any younger, either.”

McAvennie: “I think we are light in midfield. I really do. We got bullied against St Mirren. Bullied against Hearts. Against Falkirk, we were overrun – a bit like Engels, why would you get shoved off the ball? Why would you get dominated in midfield? If you are that size, and that ability.”