By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham face a serious threat from Nottingham Forest in their attempts to sign Celtic midfielder Arne Engels, with the Premier League club reportedly poised to enter the race.
According to Football Insider, Forest are well placed to hijack the deal having already tried to sign Engels during the January transfer window.
West Ham remain the front-runners and are understood to have made two offers for the 22-year-old Belgian, with the second believed to have been worth around £20m.
However, Celtic rejected bids as high as £25m for Engels in January and are reportedly looking to maximise his value before sanctioning a departure.
Forest Threat Is Very Real
The danger for West Ham is that Forest have money to spend following Elliot Anderson’s £116m move to Manchester City.
Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke believes Forest will return for Engels, saying: “I would be very surprised if Nottingham Forest do not come back in for him.”
He also reports that West Ham are attempting to move quickly specifically to ward off a potential Premier League hijack. However, anyone watching the Hammers attempts to sign the young Belgian would not describe the efforts as ‘moving quickly’.
West Ham’s pursuit of Engels has been developing for weeks, with the Celtic midfielder appearing to be a leading target of recruitment director Nils Koppen, whose knowledge of Scottish football is already influencing the club’s transfer strategy.
West Ham Can’t Afford To Miss Out
Yesterday’s 3-1 Carabao Cup victory over Portsmouth couldn’t paper over the cracks in West Ham’s midfield.
The same creative midfield void we’ve highlighted throughout the summer remains and Engels was seemingly identified to help address precisely that problem.
West Ham have remained cautious and focused in their pursuit rather than throwing money around, which is understandable.
But there comes a point when caution and delay becomes costly.
If Forest now swoop in and take Engels after West Ham have spent weeks pursuing him and having two substantial bids rejected, it will be a big blow to the club. That said, I personally believe there is better value out there and there is every chance that there is no merit in Football Insiders report.
Engels is technically very good, way better than the SPL. We’re in desperate need of a no8 and he can play that role.
At the moment we’re playing with 10 men due to Nuno’s insistence on sticking with Pabloo
First Palace, now Forest. If you believe all the rumours we’ve got no chance. We’re holding out till D.Day – the usual WH way 🙁
A journalist with no obvious connection to Notts Forest saying he would be surprised if Forest don’t come in for him, hardly seems to demand the drama of your headline
I really think your all getting a bit carried away here, we have pros who have been recently been brought in to improve our club and give us success, can you all not give em some support for more than 5 mins, just to show em what loyal fans we are
As a Forest fan I don’t believe there is any substance to these rumours. Because of squad cost ratio pressures, we need a significant part of the Anderson money to keep us under the 85% limit and have to make sure that we don’t end up adding quantity rather than quality to the squad. I don’t think we will be in for Bergval, Reinders at the prices quoted. Engels is much cheaper but the SPL is Championship level football and there is no guarantee he would flourish in the PL. Would love us to buy Lamine Camari from Monaco who would be a much safer bet and has many of Anderson’s strengths and could probably be snapped up for under £45m and on reasonable wages.
The original article just seems speculation but we do seem to he dragging our heels alot. If Celtic are not prepared to accept our best offer then need to be looking elsewhere sharpish. Shame as Solomon, Parrot and Engels and a few loans would put us in a good place.
Pure gossip highlighted by the quote “saying: “I would be very surprised if Nottingham Forest do not come back in for him.”
No fact but a journo trying to write a story from guesswork
Move on.
Arne Engels playing at higher tier slightly edges Jordon James.
Shows in price £25m against £10m.
Deal looks done for Solomon but some concern over his past injuries.
Going to need cover for left wing and Sorba Thomas (also covers other positions) at £10m is highly rated.
Buy Thomas and James for £20m and save £5m.
Wolves/Burnley looking at James so need to move quick on this deal (if that’s possible).
Stick with Orford and Kante and let Forest play hardball with Celtic.No way is this guy worth 25m coming from the Scottish premiership.
Get the humble pie in the oven now.. hope you enjoy it.
Forest might have money to spend, but for Christ sake so do we about 150 million I think
If we loose this deal after all the chasing, unless we have someone better in mind, it would be a joke of negotiations.
I thought this is why we got this great transfer man in to get the talent in
Don’t you remember the relegation we just suffered and the need to find around £150m due to the cost? You think the recent sales means we have that money to spend? Where have you been the last few months?!!
This is speculation of what could happen not fact.
Listen we need to pay up on this occasion who is a good at better value . ? Come on we need this done
Well gonzo if a premier league team come in for him then say goodbye
Sounds similar to Sullivan’s transfer attitude
We need to get Solomon, Engles & Parrot signed asap. Then I believe we would be favourites for automatic promotion.
Without these 3 we have big gaps to fill!!