What Arne Engels bids say about Brendan’s big money signings

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The Celtic Star

·02 de fevereiro de 2026

What Arne Engels bids say about Brendan’s big money signings

Does the Nottingham Forest bids for Arne Engels bid prove Brendan Rodgers ‘big money signings’ weren’t a waste of money after all?…

Arne Engels of Celtic. 01.02.2026 Celtic v Falkirk, Scottish Premiership. Photo Kenny Ramsay IMAGO

With the news filtering through today that Nottingham Forest upped their initial rejected bid of around £14m for Arne Engels to over £17m, it has got me thinking about one of the most discussed topics from the summer transfer window. The rumour was that the board didn’t trust Brendan Rodgers after his ‘big money’ signings the previous summer ended up being failures.

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That’s the same board that today rejected a £17.3m bid for Arne Engels from Nottingham Forest and telling the Premier League club that the Belgian midfielder was not for sale. Had that wished they could have told Forest that the price would be £20m and such is the money available south of the border there is a decent chance that the deal would have happened at that price, giving Celtic a tidy profit of £9m on the player who has been heavily criticised by many, especially those with no great fondness for Brendan Rodgers.

Brendan Rodgers. Dundee v Celtic. 19 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

This take was discussed widely amongst Celtic fans, and I have to say there were many supporters who fully agreed that our manager at the time couldn’t be trusted when it came to recruiting those ‘next level’ players we were all crying out for. The three examples used were Adam Idah, Auston Trusty and Arne Engels. Between the three of them it was rumoured we spent in and around £26m to strengthen the spine of our team.

By the end of the season plenty of Celtic fans were of the view that we had vastly overspent on all three.

It’s hard to know whether the board truly felt this way and that was their reason for not providing Brendan Rodgers with the money needed to take us to the next level, or whether this was merely fan speculation but it certainly got a lot of attention as we yet again oversaw a terrible transfer window that left us going into this season weaker looking than we have done in years.

Auston Trusty of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s fourth goal during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD8 match between Celtic FC and FC Utrecht at Celtic Park on January 29, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

So why am I bringing this up now? Well I feel like recent events surrounding potential interest in our players have made it impossible to ignore. The only rumours we have heard about player outgoings during this window have been two of the players who ended up being used as a rod to beat Brendan Rodgers record in the transfer market with, Arne Engels and Auston Trusty.

In fact if we go back to August, we can actually start with the other ‘big money’ signing from the previous summer, Adam Idah. The Irish striker was a player who most certainly split opinion amongst Celtic fans. Many were aghast that Rodgers spent £9m on securing his services from Norwich. This figure however wasn’t the fault of the player or the manager, this was the board’s mistake.

Adam Idah of Celtic celebrates scoring to give Celtic a 2-1 lead. Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership, 10 May 2025 Photo Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

If they had of negotiated a reasonable fee with The Canaries before we took him on loan then this would never have been a problem. A fee of around £4-5m would have been easy to agree to, Norwich would have been happy with that figure, given he came to Celtic on loan as their third choice striker with the talk at the time being that Celtic could have signed him on a permanent deal for £3m.

Instead we missed the boat on that one and Idah came North of the border and impressed. He scored some crucial goals and was a vital component in us securing the League title and Scottish cup double. Watching this unfold, Norwich quite rightly upped their asking price. Having witnessed how important Idah was to our success that season Rodgers wanted to pursue his permanent signature and Celtic ended up paying £9m.

Adam Idah celebrates scoring at Ibrox to level the score at 1-1. theRangers v Celtic, 4 May 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Did we pay over the odds? Probably, but as I said this was purely down to the deal-makers ineptitude. That inflated price was also a burden on Idah who talked of the hate he had received at Celtic after his move to Swansea was completed.

Idah would be regarded a failure by a lot of Celtic fans after his first full season in Scotland. Personally I disagreed. 20 goals from a striker who never started regularly was far from a bad return. With our chronic lack of goals this season, we would be over the moon if we had paid £9m for a striker in the summer who scored 20 goals. Anyway, Idah departed in August to Swansea, with Celtic getting most of their money back. So hardly a massive failure in monetary terms.

Callum McGregor celebrates with Auston Trusty. Celtic v Kilmarnock, Scottish Premiership Celtic Park, 9 November 2025. Photo Mark RunnaclesIMAGO /Shutterstock

We then move on to the recent rumours surrounding Auston Trusty. The American was another that many complained about last season. Plenty were falling over themselves to tell us Sheffield United had made mugs out of us by charging £6m. It was money down the drain.

This season, especially with the long term injury sustained by Cameron Carter-Vickers, Trusty has been indispensable at the heart of our defence. This has lead to interest from Italian clubs Lazio and Fiorentina, obviously impressed by some excellent performances in Europe. It would take a bid far outweighing the £6m we paid for the American if we were ever to part with him now.

Arne Engels of Celtic celebrates scoring to give Celtic a 2-0 lead. Celtic v Dundee United, l Scottish Premiership, Football, Celtic Park, 10 January 2026. Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock

Then of course we move on to the big story of the day and that’s Nottingham Forest’s £17.3m bid for Engels, another one of Brendan Rodgers big money ‘flops’ signed last summer. Again Engels is a player who many Celtic fans don’t rate.

Personally I think our midfield looks weaker when he’s not in it. He’s definitely a better option than McCowan and Bernardo who offer very little in my opinion. If this bid was to come in June I wouldn’t be overly upset if we took the money and got in a quality replacement but to cash in today would be madness.

We need Engels if we are to have any chance of retaining the league title. There is no time to get a replacement. I know seeing a £17.3m bid sat there on the table will be like torture to our board. But they must resist. The season depends on it.

Arne Engels of Celtic scores a penalty to make it 4-2 Livingston v Celtic, Scottish Premiership at Livingston, on 27 December 2025. Photo Bruce White Shutterstock

Back to my point however and it’s this. That £17.3m bid shows Engels is highly rated outside of Celtic Park. Remember too that RB Leipzig also enquired about him in this window so he has his admirers in top leagues which is where he will probably be heading this summer.

It proves it wasn’t an error for Rodgers to sanction the move for a record fee. Engels has already increased his worth by over 50%.

So in conclusion if we were to cash in on Trusty and Engels now we would be in for quite a significant windfall. Even if we add in Idah, between the three of them we would still come out with a pretty tidy profit. Compare and contrast with the Mark Lawwell window when the Jota windfall – over £20m was spent. Remind me of how that went and how much of that money did we recover in transfer fees?

Will this end the debate that Rodgers spent unwisely in summer 2024? That he couldn’t spot a player? Probably not is the answer. Maybe a lot of these perpetual moaners amongst our support will start to realise that maybe it’s them who can’t see the talent some of these players possess. Or maybe they know more than clubs currently willing to sanction multi-million pound moves for them?

Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic, gestures to fans prior to the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD3 match between Celtic FC and SK Sturm Graz at Celtic Park on October 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Personally I think it proves Rodgers wasn’t the main problem when it came to spending money unwisely, the board were. Most of the ‘club signings’ brought in recently have been a disaster. Rodgers knew the likes of Inamura and Yamada were miles off it. He’s been proved right. The discussion around Rodgers inability to spend big money wisely will continue.

Shin Yamada & Hayato Inamura of Celtic step off the team bus at Celtic Park. Celtic v Livingston, Scottish Premiership, Celtic Park, 23 August 2025. Stuart Wallace IMAGO/Shutterstock

Hopefully recent events will help remind some people that he was far from the worst offender.

Conall McGinty

Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr. Click on image to order