Celtic Midfielder on Verge of Championship Switch

Celtic boss Martin O'Neill has confirmed that midfielder Arne Engels is on the verge of completing a move to West Ham United, with the 22-year-old Belgian keen to take on a new challenge south of the border.

Engels, who joined Celtic from Augsburg two years ago, has been a standout performer in the Scottish Premiership, scoring 14 goals and providing 10 assists in 66 league appearances. During his time at Parkhead, he won back-to-back league titles, the Scottish League Cup in 2024-25, and the Scottish Cup in 2025-26 — scoring in the final against Dunfermline in May.

Engels provided an assist in Celtic's 5-1 win over Kilmarnock last weekend, which is expected to be his final appearance for the club. O'Neill had hoped Engels would stay on for the Champions League qualifier against LASK, with the first leg set for Wednesday, but West Ham are pushing to finalise the deal before the start of their Championship season.

O'Neill expressed his disappointment but admitted he understands the player's decision, especially after seeing teammate Alistair Johnston's potential move to Everton fall through due to injury.

"West Ham wanted him to be available for the opening day of the season," O'Neill said. "I would imagine that he's probably at this minute doing the medical. Naturally disappointed, really, that he's leaving the football club, he's done very well for us.

"And it's hard to dissuade him of that. If it hadn't come up, I think he'd have been happy. Even though the offer came in very late from Nottingham Forest in January, he never moaned about it at all. So it's an opportunity for him and it's really hard for him to turn it down."

The Celtic boss added: "Ideally, I'd love him to have stayed and maybe completed after the two games. It probably wasn't going to happen. You've got a concern, I suppose, with the fact that Alistair played for us when there was an offer on the table, hurt himself, maybe things like that there may disappear. I suppose Arne was probably worried the same sort of thing might happen. From a playing viewpoint, I probably can understand that."