Celtic are reportedly close to appointing Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy as their next permanent manager to replace Brendan Rodgers.
The French tactician is in “advanced negotiations” to join the Scottish giants, but it remains to be seen exactly when Martin O’Neill will take over, with Martin O’Neill currently acting as caretaker manager.
Once Nancy takes over and has considered his priorities, Celtic’s new manager will have to find a way to get even more out of central midfielder Arne Engels in the coming weeks and months.
Why Wilfried Nancy must bring Arne Engels back to Celtic
The Scottish Premiership champions broke a club record transfer fee to sign the Belgian international from Augsburg for £11 million in the summer of 2024, and he showed plenty of promising signs from his first year at the club.
According to Transfermarkt, Engels has played 52 games for the Hoops in all competitions, scoring 10 goals and providing 13 assists, showing he poses a reasonable threat both as a scorer and goal creator.
Unfortunately, the 22-year-old star has been frustrating to watch this season, as he only managed one goal and four assists in 20 games in 2025/26.
This is why getting the most out of Engels should be one of Nancy’s top priorities. Because Engels is clearly capable of contributing much more than he currently has.
Along with the Belgian starlet, the French manager will also have to let go of summer signing Benjamin Nygren, who has become Celtic’s most frustrating player since Engels.
Why Benjamin Nygren is a frustrating player for Celtic
As well as his club-record £11m signing, the Sweden international is also a very frustrating addition for the Hoops. Because while the talent is clearly there, it doesn’t always work out for him.
The left-footed central midfielder has six goals and three assists in 18 appearances for the club this season, according to Sofascore, but has been on the bench in O’Neill’s last two league games.
Nygren is a very frustrating player who can do the hard parts of scoring and scoring goals, but sometimes lets himself down with the easy parts of the game in the middle of the park.
25/26 Premiership | Benjamin Nygren | Comparison of percentile rank and CM |
|---|---|---|
xG | 4.76 | Top 1% |
the goal | 5 | Top 1% |
Shah | 2.77 | Top 5% |
assist | 2 | Top 14% |
dribbling success rate | 29.4% | bottom 17% |
Duel success rate | 49.5% | Bottom 44% |
dribbled past | 6 times | bottom 35% |
Statistics by FotMob | ||
As you can see from the table above, he is exceptionally talented when it comes to making an impact in the final third, but his physicality on and off the ball is one of the worst position-wise of any player.
This explains why O’Neill left him out of the starting XI in recent games, as the midfield star has yet to prove reliable enough out of possession to match his attacking qualities.
But the 24-year-old gem’s attacking prowess suggests he is a player who could offer Nancy much once he gets into the building, as was the case with Engels, which is why he needs to unleash the Swedish prodigy from the get-go.
It will then be up to Nygren and Nancy to work together on the practice pitch to minimize the impact of his physical struggles or improve his off-ball work to make him as effective as possible.
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