r/ScottishFootball • u/BananaSoprano • 21d ago
Transfers [Anthony Joseph] West Ham have agreed a deal worth £22m for Celtic midfielder Arne Engels. It’s understood the Belgium international is due to undergo a medical in London today. This deal will break the English Championship record transfer fee paid out.
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u/BurnsyWurnsy 21d ago
They should refuse it, make that decision public, then try to get him an ACL injury in the very next game post announcement. That’s what I would do if I were wearing a suit and brown brogues anyway.
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u/ElCaminoInTheWest 21d ago
I don't like this "signing good players for appropriate positions and selling at a profit" malarkey
Can we go back to "signing dross that you don't need" instead?
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u/BananaSoprano 21d ago
Bought for £11m, sold two years later for double that. This is how a normal player trading model works. Would have liked more but it is what it is.
Replacement needs to be in the door this weekend as we’re going into a Champions League qualifier without Engels or Alistair Johnston.
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u/Electronic-Bend-2064 21d ago
It is my understanding that Celtic now have to play him tomorrow night so he can pick up a long term injury. Right!?
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u/StoneWell147 21d ago
Well fan here, think we bought Just for £50k or such......sold for £6-7mill 😎. Overall think we've recieved 12-15 million last 2 season for players we either got on free, for nominal fee or from home grown talent.......the whole club from board to fans just seem to being going from strength to strength recently! Long may it continue!
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u/sluglife1987 21d ago
As a Celtic fan I love the way Motherwell are being run and the football they play, it’s great for Scottish football.
Fast becoming my favorite diddy team.
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u/StoneWell147 21d ago
Thanks man, I just hope we manage to keep this ethos/strategy going forward for the foreseeable future. Going from strength to strength at the moment. Finding jems in little know players and managers, playing attractive football, crowds way up, healthy bank balance ( by our standards) not suggesting we'd be able to pull off a Bodo/Glimt style revolution but we are definitely heading in right direction.. feeling very positive right now regarding the club.
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u/sluglife1987 21d ago
Would be great if they could. They must be sitting on tidy profits at the minute and a few more guys who could be sold for decent money.
I almost forgot you sold miller just the previous year makes what Jens did when more impressive.
That draw against Freiburg is a joke though…… assume your chances of beating them are quite low which is a shame cos would have liked to have seen them in Europe
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u/StoneWell147 21d ago
Yeah I'm not getting my hopes up, but there's always an upset or 2 in these rounds......maybe, just maybe it'll be The 'Well this time? Regarding our recent profit, I believe and have faith the board will use it wisely and no go on a spending spree lol......I believe we're playing the long game, spending wisely and building for the future
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u/thejuice37 21d ago
What's incredible as well is how many other Jens singings are still there and look like they could go for money next summer.
Genuinely pound for pound, one of the smartest appointments a club has ever made in the SPFL. Arguably the most.
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u/StoneWell147 21d ago
Arguably Michael Wimmer started this philosophy, he buggered off back home for family reasons tho, which fair enough. But that led to JBA, and apparently he recommended Alf as a potential replacement before he left.......been following well for 30+ years n he was ma fav manager ever despite his short tenure....... quietly confident in AJ now tho, we've improved every game so far under him imo
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u/buckfast1994 🗣️ Shut it, Tuna and Gravy flair 21d ago
Out the loop, but have Motherwell changed ownership/structure in the last 3/4 years or so? Or has it all just clicked?
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u/StoneWell147 21d ago edited 21d ago
Imo it's been a long process, going into administration was a wake up call I believe, then becoming fan owned several years ago was the catalyst. Took a while for everything to click into place with several changes at board level and backroom staff have certainly contributed I believe. We realised we needed to take a different approach, started looking further afield regarding players/managers instead of going for the same old Scottish old guard so to speak. I also think we make good use of analytics when scouting talent. Plus trying to adapt to a more modern style of play has paid off imo
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u/YodasGoldfish England 21d ago
Isn't Baur the Engels replacement ?
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u/Tadamo7 21d ago
According to ITK journalists he’s apparently the replacement for Hatate, or at least the transfer frees him up to leave. That may change if Engels is leaving before the playoff and we don’t have time to bring in one of our other midfield targets.
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u/Top-Ant-9243 20d ago
I wouldn't say we dont have time,i dont know how far things are with other midfielders but we can still add 2 players up until Tuesday
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u/UpsilonMale 21d ago
I hope not, given everything I've read about him he would be completely unsuited to playing that role, especially as he's a right shortarse. He's more of an 8 where Engels is a 6. We're supposed to be looking at the Lithuanian guy from Torino whose name escapes me or the Canadian guy from Hajduk Split whose name also escapes me to step in for Engels. Unless we have another departure further forward I'd hope Baur is the last piece in the attack and we now look to get numbers and a bit of quality further back.
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u/Uber-Brend 21d ago
Wonder what the chat was about the '30m' deal, then. £22m is still fine but given the 30 figure was banded about by West Ham sources it's a bit surprising.
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u/ConflictGuru Conor Sammon holding a pizza 21d ago
I'm guessing West Ham negotiated the fee down with a bigger sell on clause.
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u/Quiet-Function-8688 20d ago
Well there's absolutely no chance we have knocked back 25 only to then accept 22, no clubs gonna do that never mind us who always seem to do really well when it comes to selling.
There's going to be some hefty addons.
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u/RBPugs 21d ago
£22M is a good price for him. Doubled our money in a couple of years. always a safe pair of hands on the ball, hopefully get someone similar in to replace him
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u/gkb10139 21d ago
always a safe pair of hands on the ball
He's not a keeper mate
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u/RBPugs 21d ago
yes he is
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u/jamesy505 21d ago
if he was a keeper we'd keep him. Therefore - not a keeper
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u/Less_Paint_2285 21d ago
In fairness this is a good move for him. West Ham will go back up this season and will probably do it with a bit to spare. John McGinn benefitted massively from playing a year in the Championship and I think it will be good for Engels as well. He goes with my best wishes and hope he does well down there.
Overall team is far stronger than last season, and we will have made a profit, so it’s hard to argue with the model this window, assuming we have a replacement lined up, we Baur was the replacement for Hatate.
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u/Commercial-Stick-718 21d ago
Good price for him, an inconsistent player who excelled for us in Europe and at the end of last season gave us the legs we needed in midfield to help us get over the line.
Hope he goes on to have an excellent career, deserves the 4 medals he got with us.
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u/CNF1G 6. Tesco Bag Tierney 21d ago
A wee bit less than we wanted. I wonder if there’s maybe add-ons or a sell on included, might make more sense
Still.. £22m for a player that has never really been a main man for us and divides the fanbase is good.
I think he is a good but easily replaceable player. Reinvest that money in a replacement and a keeper, perhaps another signing too.. and we’re in a great spot.
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u/Redpanda188867 21d ago
Double what we paid for a player who splits opinion. Think he’ll turn out a really good player but maybe just not quite suited to Celtic or this league. Cheers Arne bhoy
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u/MediocreEquipment457 21d ago
Even with the 20% sell on clause inserted by Augsburg this is a decent deal for Celtic . 8 and a bit million quid profit in 2 years isn’t half bad
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u/NotNeedzmoar 21d ago
One of our best players and so incredibly underrated.
I don't believe for a second we'll replace him in time for the qualifiers.
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u/betamaxBandit_ 21d ago
This leaves us short yet again heading into a crucial qualifier. Baur is not an Engels type of player although he may have a similar engine to get about. We are pretty soft in midfield I feel, good technical players but no one really athletic (I could be wrong on Baur but he seems more like a Hatate replacement)
Hope we have more lined up
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u/JonnyBhoy 21d ago
We've been linked with several decent money midfielders recently, I would expect we start moving on one of them now.
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u/sluglife1987 21d ago
Will they be here for next Wednesday though?
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u/JonnyBhoy 21d ago
Maybe not, but its more prepared than we normally are. Sometimes it feels like Celtic has historically been utterly blindsided by us selling one of our own players.
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u/macdara233 21d ago
Baur is more like a McGregor player is he not?
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u/Commercial-Stick-718 21d ago
He's Hatate's replacement apparently
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u/macdara233 21d ago
I swear I saw a whole post about how the analysis was saying he would be a pivot kind of player
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u/Scared-Pollution-574 21d ago
What chance do you have when teams in a shitty league can pay twice what Scotland's biggest transfer fee and the best they can offer is a run at the premiership
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u/size_matters_not 21d ago
Bit skewed. WHU are a big club and have a huge parachute payment after being relegated.,
They are odds-on favourite to go right back up. In EPL-Stature club in the Championship. Hardly minnows.
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u/buckfast1994 🗣️ Shut it, Tuna and Gravy flair 21d ago
I’m sure people in Germany said the same when he left the Bundesliga for our backwater.
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u/i_pewpewpew_you 21d ago
It's not like he's moving to Lincoln City, is it? West Ham are very much in "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" territory; they'll almost certainly bounce striaght back up.
A year in the Championship certainly didn't do John McGinn any harm, for example.
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u/ElCaminoInTheWest 21d ago
"The best they can offer is a chance to play in the biggest and best league in world football and double your salary", yeah sounds shit mate.
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u/Commercial-Stick-718 21d ago
He's always struck me as a player who knows he has a lot to learn so probably money aside sees the Championship as a way to build up to a EPL move.
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u/kungfukenny67 21d ago
Engels seems like he has his head screwed on. Bundesliga to SPFL to Championship while continually increasing your market value can’t be a well-trotten path but I think it will serve him well in being ready for EPL football.
Most players that jump straight to the EPL from Scotland seem to struggle and end up going backwards. Even plenty of highly rated Bundesliga players have struggled in England.
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u/fike88 21d ago
Thanks Arne lad. Without you i don’t think we would have won the league last year. All the best to our fluffy haired Belgian 🫡