Having done the easy part and agreed terms with the player, West Ham’s planned midfielder transfer has reached that time where it becomes ‘put up or shut up’ in the negotiations for Arne Engels, according to the BBC this afternoon.
The Irons had a bid knocked back and this morning made a second, as per our earlier article, and the response from Celtic boss Martin O’Neill has been swift:
“Celtic have rejected a West Ham approach for Arne Engels… manager Martin O’Neill has confirmed.
The West Ham bid for Belgium midfielder Engels, 22, “doesn’t remotely meet our valuation”, said O’Neill (bbc.co.uk)
Whilst the exact amount required by the Scottish Premier League Champions is not in the public domain clearly it will be close to the £25 million bid which Nottingham Forest had rejected a year ago, although Engels’ contract now has just 24 months left to run.
West Ham are in negotiation for Celtic midfielder
If the Irons have decided that Engels is the man for Nuno’s midfield then at present, a deal is within their grasp: Two huge transfer fees incoming this summer will of course not have gone unnoticed north of the border – so convincing Celtic to deal at anything other than top dollar might be a challenge.
Delaying of course also opens up the door for another last-minute hijack as happened with Gustavo Sá, which will no doubt be playing on Nils Koppen’s mind as he tries to get his first West Ham deal over the line.
Celtic fan here, love the Hammers too as my grandfather was a regular at Upton Park in the 50s, Engels is a classy midfielder rated highly by Brendan Rodgers and Martin O’Neill, two top British managers, a Belgian international with lots of potential and not yet at his ceiling. Forest’s 25m bid was rejected at the end of the January window and it’s public that any bidding needs to start on 26m. If he goes the way of Van Dyk, Wanyama et al you’ll be able to sell him on for at least 40m in a couple of years having got excellent service out of him. Good dead ball specialist, takes penalties confidently and is a level head on young shoulders, required in a 60,000 atmosphere most home games. Yes the SPL is what it is, but he handles the Glasgow derby with calm authority, which has buried many good players! Celtic have European runs almost every year (in the last year or so we disposed of Feyenoord, Leipzig, and held Bayern over two legs in the play-offs of the Champions League taking the tie within a minute of extra time). In recent years we held Man City 3-3 and 1-1 in the Champions League, so that European dimension of the Celtic experience needs to be factored in, as it breeds a certain resilience. Bid 30m, I hope you get him and he helps take you back up where you belong!
Didn’t Martin O’Neill make some anti Hammers comments a few years ago? Can’t remember why but maybe he holds a grudge.
If the price is anything north of £20m, walk away, because there is no value for money there. Playing for Celtic in the SPL shows he is a decent Championship player and no more. Let’s ensure the days of WHU being played when buying players is over, just as it is with sales.
Quite agree
Every year we have the same old saga
We are going to sign this player and that player
It is about time you put down the money asked and get the player in.
Show us fans that players are going to come in now
The fans were promised better and they put their faith behind those promises and purchased their season tickets with hope the club was going to be supported in getting the club back into the premier league
With what I am seeing at the moment, I am extremely worried that this looks likes Sullivan’s old tricks, leading the fans on and nothing at all coming from it
We have the money for god sake, get some players in 25million is peanuts for a decent player
Or are you hoping Forest come in and then say we tried
Not good enough
If you don’t get some players in to improve the team,and the season then starts bad, I can tell you now that support will soon disappear and there will be a lot of empty seats
The fans deserve better
quick question Martin ? is there any confirmation anywhere that Forest have signed Gustavo Sá as can’t find any myself ? x
If proof were needed that most transfer talk is a waste of breath, then we had it yesterday when we were told West Ham and Celtic were “not too far apart in their valuation” which now appears to be rubbish
It’s not Rubbish though .
Can you expect anything else after whu actions with Summerville and Fernandes signings.
If Forest bid £25m earlier this year and it was turned down unlikely to take less.
What was Kretinsky motto ‘Pay up or move on’.
W Ham Stop being so tight Us fans are sick of it Starrt behaving like a proper football club and not a two Bob trader otherwise stay in the lower divisions for long periods