Former Belgium and Tottenham Hotspur defender Toby Alderweireld believes Celtic will find Arne Engels “very difficult” to replace if the midfielder completes his expected move this summer.
Engels’ future has dominated much of the latter stages of the transfer window, with Championship side West Ham pushing hard to sign the Belgian international.
The midfielder started Celtic’s 1-0 win over Dundee on Monday night despite the growing speculation.
West Ham have already seen two bids rejected, with Celtic believed to be holding out for a fee in the region of £25 million.
Reports suggest a third offer is expected, one that could move much closer to the Scottish champions’ valuation.
Should a deal eventually be struck, Alderweireld believes Celtic would be losing one of their most dependable performers.
Speaking to Hajper the former Belgium international said:
“Arne Engels has shown us how special he is by playing week in, week out, proving himself for Celtic, and he will not be easy to replace.
“Players who are consistent are always so important. Anyone can have a YouTube compilation made about them even if they only play well every four games but to be a player who is always seven out of 10 every week, that’s what a manager wants.
“He will be a big loss to Celtic.”
Although Engels has missed out on Belgium’s most recent international squads, his performances for Celtic continue to attract admiration back home.
While he may not always grab the headlines with spectacular moments, Engels has established himself as one of the first names on O’Neill’s teamsheet through his reliability and work rate.
The team performance dipped when he was out injured last season, but it was clear to see the difference that he made to the team when he returned for the run in.
Celtic are already preparing for the possibility of his departure.
CeltsAreHere understands the Hoops remain hopeful of landing Mika Baur, with an improved bid of around £5 million being prepared after an initial offer was rejected by SC Paderborn.
However, even if Baur arrives, replacing a player of Engels’ calibre will not be straightforward.
As Alderweireld points out, consistent performers are often the hardest to replace.
With West Ham expected to return with another offer in the coming days, the saga looks set to enter a decisive stage.
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3 responses
I will be honest as I can here and say I am pretty confident we can find a replacement for Engels and there is no way he’s always a 7/10 every week, but until that replacement is here we can’t afford to lose him , AJ on the other hand is always a 7/10 and above every week and we will find it much harder to replace him
Agree. Slattery or Watt from Motherwell would both have been ample replacements for Engels, given the club was fairly confident he would be sold. Needless to say we missed those boats like we did with Saraachi, Iheanacho and countless others. Engels flatters to deceive and i’ll be the first to say I am wrong if he makes any impact down south. Whilst i’m mentioning former Motherwell players, there’s still a pretty decent left-back in Longelo who would not only be more than capable of stepping in for Tierney, he’d probably challenge him for a starting berth. No doubt we’ll not look at him either. Too obvious, right under our noses. Finding a replacement for AJ would likely be a tough act for a decent board, never mind ours.
Cannot Believe People want us to sell Engles,, Unless we get 25 + Million,, HH