Celtic skipper Callum McGregor has showered praise on summer signing Arne Engels.
McGregor says he has been left impressed with the 21-year-old midfielder in training and says that Engels looks like a “top player”.
The Bhoys skipper has also praised Engels’ “brilliant attitude”, adding that the new signing has already settled in nicely with the rest of the squad.
Expectations are high from the versatile young midfielder, who has become the club’s record signing in the summer transfer window as he joined from Bundesliga outfit FC Augsburg for a fee of around £11 million.
“The sort of money that was spent (on Engels), then straight away everybody sits up and there’s big expectation,” said McGregor to the Daily Record.
“From what I’ve seen of him so far he looks like a top player, he has a brilliant attitude, has settled into the group really well, his training level’s been excellent.”
Arne Engels will be under pressure to justify the hype
During the summer window, Celtic lost Matt O’Riley to Brighton for a Scottish record transfer fee, and they spent the money on buying Engels.
Given his price tag and obvious talent, there is a natural hype around him. The expectations are high, but everyone also needs to understand that he is still very young, and it would be unfair to put extreme pressure on him.
It is also unrealistic to expect that Engels will easily replace O’Riley, who was simply sensational for the club. He must be given the time to settle down and get used to the new system under Brendan Rodgers.
The fans must not forget that O’Riley took a lot of time to develop, and he reached his fullest potential only in the last season.
Celtic have made a strong start to the season, and they will look to continue their winning run when they face Hearts on Saturday.
