It was the end of an era for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers, who tendered his resignation this week after a string of disappointing results in all competitions.
The Hoops had the honor of defeating Sturm Graz in the Europa League last week, but they have also lost three of their last five games, including the last two in the Scottish Premiership.
Dane Murray scored an own goal and conceded a penalty in a rare start against league leaders Hearts on Sunday, giving them an eight-point lead at the top of the table.
The Hoops are in the unique position of chasing down the leaders, but Rodgers has decided that he is not the person to take the club forward.
Celtic have already confirmed that highly experienced manager Martin O’Neill will lead the side in an interim period until a permanent head coach is announced.
The former Hoops manager will have a big decision to make in his squad selection for the game against Falkirk, but Arne Engels is one player whose future at the club is in some doubt due to his performances.
Why Arne Engels’ future at Celtic is in doubt
The Scottish giants broke a transfer record by signing the Belgian international from Augsburg for an £11 million transfer in the summer of 2024 to strengthen their options in the middle of the park.
According to Transfermarkt, the 21-year-old’s return to action with 10 goals and 13 assists in 52 games across all competitions was an impressive performance for him, playing for Scotland for the first time despite the pressure of transfer fees.
Unfortunately, Engels has not been able to make an impact in the current Scottish Premiership, having only featured in the starting XI for four of the eight games.
25/26 Premiership | Arne Engels | Comparison of percentile rank and CM |
|---|---|---|
xG | 0.42 | Top 33% |
the goal | 0 | bottom 3% |
Shah | 0.48 | Top 49% |
assist | 0 | bottom 3% |
won a duel | 16 | bottom 31% |
Duel success rate | 29% | bottom 4% |
intercept | 2 | bottom 18% |
Statistics by FotMob | ||
As can be seen from the table above, Belgium’s central midfielders have not been able to perform very well in possession, while in midfield they have struggled significantly off the ball.
His dismal form in the Premiership and lack of starts could put his future in doubt ahead of the January transfer window. That’s because he’s an £11 million asset and his value won’t increase if he performs poorly.
However, there was a bright spot in last week’s game against Sturm Graz. According to Sofascore, he finished the match with an assist for the winning goal, as well as creating five important passes and three “big chances”, as seen in the clip above.
That performance was a step in the right direction for Engels, showing he is still capable of delivering quality performances in the middle of the park for the Hoops, which is why O’Neill shouldn’t leave him out of his eleven.
However, one player who should be immediately abandoned by the interim manager is Reo Hatate, whose performance level has significantly declined this season.
Why should Reo Hatate step down?
Like Engels, the Japan international was an influential figure in the Hoops’ midfield during the 2024-25 season with his attacking contributions.
Hatate made 37 appearances in the Scottish Premiership last season, scoring 10 goals and creating 14 ‘big chances’. This shows that he posed a regular threat to the Bhoys both as a scorer and as a goal creator.
The Japanese star was linked with a move to Serie A side Udinese following his impressive performances for the club, but he remained at Parkhead until the end of the summer transfer window.
Unfortunately, Hatate has only made one goal and zero assists in 13 appearances in all competitions this season, and was recently criticized by the former Celtic manager for his performance against Sturm Graz.
In TNT Sports’ match coverage, Neil Lennon was unimpressed with the midfielder, saying his play on the ball throughout the first half was “very sloppy”.
Reo Hatate | vs Sturm Graz | VS Hearts |
|---|---|---|
minutes | 90 | 60 |
key pass | 3 | 1 |
assist | 0 | 0 |
loss of ownership | 16x | 5 times |
Won a ground duel | 1/5 | 0/1 |
won an aerial battle | 0/1 | 1/3 |
tackle win | 0 | 0 |
Statistics by Sofascore | ||
As you can see from the table above, the Hatters gave the ball away 16 times against the Austrian national team, but lost five of their six matches, and then lost 75% against Hearts on Sunday.
The Japanese international has not only struggled in duels this season, but in seven starts in the Premiership he has scored one goal, failed to make an assist and made just 0.7 key passes per game.
With Luke McCowan and Paulo Bernardo on either flank and Lennon criticizing his on-ball play last week, it looks like Hatate will end up in midfield unless his performance improves dramatically.
According to Sofascore, Engels at least showed signs of life with his impressive performance against Sturm Graz, creating as many “big chances” (3) as Hatate did in all competitions all season (3).
It remains to be seen who will be the club’s next permanent manager, but it is also unclear whether Glasgow has much of a future left if the flag bearer’s performances do not improve.
Unlike Engels, he is currently showing no signs of resurgence, so a move could be considered in January as the flag bearer could be the best option for all concerned if he is unable to regain his best form, especially considering the interest from Udinese in the summer.
