German football expert Derek Rae has backed Celtic midfielder Arne Engels to go to the very top, insisting the 21-year-old has all the tools to thrive under Brendan Rodgers despite criticism in recent months.
Engels arrived at Parkhead last summer in an £11 million move and remains a key figure in Rodgers’ plans heading into the new campaign.
While some fans have questioned his impact, Rae is convinced the Belgian has the potential to become a top-level performer, drawing on his development in the Bundesliga as evidence.
“I have to say, I am a believer that Arne Engels will go to the next level. And I say that because I saw the strides he made when he joined Augsburg. Now, actually, I was in the stadium in Augsburg commentating—sorry, in Dortmund—commentating against Augsburg when he made his debut. And it was a surprise. He had just joined. It wasn’t a high-profile transfer. He had just joined and he was named on the starting XI. It was a very dramatic 4–3 game in Dortmund’s favour. But Engels immediately looked really good.
“And what I liked about him in Augsburg was that you could see that it was a versatile player there. They would often use him as somebody who would sit deep and call him a defensive midfield player, but not in the sort of traditional Scottish interpretation of a defensive midfield player—somebody who’s maybe a bit rough-house and robust and putting in challenges—but more of a sort of good-on-the-ball defensive midfield player. A number six, as they would say in Germany.
“But you could see the evolution there, and you could see that he could play in a number of other positions too, and could take a very good corner—certainly in his repertoire as well. So I think that he went from being a €1.5 million player to being worth 10 times that in a very short period of time, eventually joining Celtic.
“So I do think that there’s a player there, still young, who has the ability to go even further. And I think he’s in good hands with Brendan Rodgers as his manager.”
Rodgers isn’t losing patience with the player; he’s actually impressed with what he’s seen from him in his debut season in Scotland. The price tag doesn’t help him, granted, but as Rodgers said earlier today, it wasn’t the player who set that.
Another thing that doesn’t help is that many expected him to replace Matt O’Riley, but both are completely different players. Engels did still get his fair share of goals and assists but not quite to the same level as Matt O’Riley in his final season in the Hoops.
The hope is that Engels really kicks on this season and proves his doubters wrong. With Nygren in the door competing for a midfield spot too, competition for starting spaces has shot up.
