West Ham pushing to sign Celtic player dubbed 'fantastic' by Brendan Rodgers | OneFootball

West Ham United are set to ramp up their interest in Celtic midfielder Arne Engels this summer

West Ham United’s summer window is beginning to heat up at last, as though the Hammers have made just one permanent addition since relegation from the Premier League thus far, interest in potential signings has been far from sparse.

West Ham’s relegation from the top flight for the first time in over 14 years was a worst case scenario for the East London outfit, who must now contend with the losses of Premier League revenue for at least one year.

The £85 million sale of Mateus Fernandes to Tottenham Hotspur will go some way to mitigating those losses, though with the likes of Crysencio Summerville, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and Edson Alvarez linked away as well, more money is expected to arrive from departures sooner rather than later.

Venezuelan winger Keiber Lamadrid, who spent the second half of last season on loan at the London Stadium but barely featured, has seen his loan become a permanent switch, and at this point, remains their only addition.

Incoming director of player recruitment, Nils Koppen, is looking to change that, as the former Rangers employee has set his sights on a swoop for one of the Scottish Premiership’s finest.

West Ham United are set to ramp up their interest in Celtic midfielder Arne Engels over the coming days

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Fernandes’ departure to Spurs, without a doubt, creates a huge gap in the middle of the park that West Ham will face an almost impossible task of filling with just a single addition.

Head coach Nuno Espírito Santo will have few intentions to see his side become weaker despite relegation, and will have every ambition of actually strengthening, as he and Koppen get to work on potential signings this summer.

Now, according to ExWHUEmployee’s Patreon West Ham are interested in Celtic midfielder Arne Engels, and are set to intensify their pursuit of the Belgian over the next few days.

Engels, dubbed 'fantastic' by Brendan Rodgers in 2024, came through the youth system at Club Brugge before switching to the German Bundesliga in 2022 with Augsburg, where he would announce himself as a regular in the first team during the 2023/24 season, making 32 top flight appearances.

Following Matt O’Riley’s move to Brighton and Hove Albion in the summer of 2024, Celtic were on the hunt for a replacement, and parted ways with a club-record £11m to bring the Belgian to Glasgow on a four-year deal.

Since then, Engels, who can play almost anywhere in the middle of the park, has made 98 appearances for the Hoops across all competition, scoring 17 and assisting 21, and has been the subject of interest from England before, with Nottingham Forest seeing a bid worth £25 million for the 22-year-old rejected last January.

Now, West Ham are looking to lure him to the Championship, in what would almost certainly be a record fee for a player heading to the English second tier, smashing Sindre Walle Egeli’s £17.5 million move to Ipswich Town just last summer out of the water.

Claret & Hugh exclusively broke the news on Tuesday that the Hammers had identified three transfer targets at the Scottish outfit, with Engels being one of those, and now, it appears as though Nuno’s side are heating up their pursuit of the Belgian.

Despite West Ham’s riches, it won’t be an easy deal to pull off, and switching Champions League football for Championship football will be a tough pitch for the East London outfit to overcome, but Koppen will work around the clock to try and make this deal happen, as West Ham’s transfer business begins to take a turn in the right direction.

Nuno Espírito Santo will be eager to see recruits at West Ham United amid Arne Engels links

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With only Lamadrid having signed on the dotted line this summer following his loan move, there are technically no new faces around the London Stadium as yet, with that being something the Portuguese head coach must be desperate to change.

Engels, upon his supposed arrival, would instantly become one of the Championship’s best players, and though doubts remain over West Ham’s capability of replacing Fernandes, the Belgian would go some way to calming nerves in East London.

Nuno will surely be frustrated at the clubs lack of business thus far, and like West Ham supporters, will be hoping to see some exciting additions holding up a Hammers shirt sooner rather than later, with Engels potentially being one of those.