Arne Engels joked about Celtic supporters starting to adapt the Robbie Williams Angels song for the new record breaking Hoops signing and the 21 year-old Belgium international is all for that one taking off inside Paradise…
Engels was speaking to the media at Celtic Park yesterday afternoon, meeting the broadcast media, then the written mainstream press before sitting down with the Celtic fan media (video below)…
Speaking in his second of three media conferences the subject of Celtic supporters ‘loving Engels instead’ came up, much to the amusement of our £11m midfielder.
He certainly is enjoying his first impressions of living in Glasgow and being a Celtic player. Arne said, as reported by Daily Record:
‘I’d love that! It would be amazing’
“I saw some comments about that Robbie Williams song under my picture on social media. That would be really nice, I’d love that! It would be amazing. The fans are showing so much support, so I’d like to show something back for them if they see me. That would be nice, it would be no problem.
“To live here, it’s a nice city, so it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be good. I just want to be myself and make a name for myself, that is what I will do and what I am good at.
“I want to show everybody what I can do, and not think about what somebody else is doing or did here. It’s just for me to show it to everybody.”
“Is there an initiation?”
Asked about whether or not he’s had to get up and sing an initiation song for his teammates, Arne stated that he’s game for that and reckons it will be enjoyable, maybe he could learn that ‘Engels’ lyrics and sing that to his teammates!
“Is there an initiation? Not that I know of – I hope not! I don’t know, but if it comes then I’ll do it, and it will be enjoyable for the guys to laugh a bit with me.
“It’s a good squad, but we haven’t had time for that yet. It’s been a crazy week or so with everything that has happened. It’s been really nice. I got the chance to celebrate my birthday as well because I was suspended for the national team,” Arne said.
“I managed to get home for a day or so”
He signed for Celtic, made his debut against theRangers in the 3-0 Glasgow Derby skelping, then made his international debut for Belgium before heading home to celebrate his 21st birthday with family and friends then got himself back to Glasgow for only his second ever training session at lennoxtown yesterday morning before doing the three media conferences yesterday at Celtic Park.
“I managed to get home for a day or so to spend time with friends and family. It wasn’t planned but it was nice to take a moment. I wouldn’t say it’s all sunk in yet – it might take me a few more weeks to settle in!,” the Celtic midfielder said.
“It developed in the right way”
Asked about the back story to his transfer to Celtic, Arne gave this insight. “I knew already a few weeks before that they were interested in me, but then also you need to wait to see how things develop. It developed in the right way so I’m really happy about that.”
“It was pretty ok, I’m a relaxed guy and I take it as it comes, so I wasn’t stressed out or anything. I was pretty relaxed, just happy when it all came through.”
He was certainly relaxing at the end of last season, on a beach in Ibiza, when he got a call from Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco to join the Belgium squad at Euro2024 to help boost the numbers rather than be a part of the playing squad. It was a vital step though and one that led to his full international debut last week against Israel.
On holiday in Ibiza
“I didn’t know I would be called up in the summer, so it was a bit of a surprise,” Arne explained. “I was on holiday in Ibiza with some friends when the call came through. It was a relaxing holiday so it was okay. I flew home directly and went to the national team. I was really happy to get the call.
“It wasn’t like being really called up, but just to participate in the training, but even so it was a great opportunity to see how they trained and worked tactically before the Euros.
“That also made it easier for me to go into the real squad last week. I knew everyone already. Everyone in the squad picked me up really well. They are all normal guys, they talk to everyone and there are a lot of young guys in there as well.
“I knew a few of them from youth academies and national teams. It felt easy to go into that team and you see the quality of them in training as well. You can learn a lot from them. That is what I want to be part of because we have a lot of promising guys who will be very good players. It’s an exciting time.
“We also still have guys like Kevin de Bruyne”
“We also still have guys like Kevin de Bruyne. You see what he does in training and in games. That is something you learn from and add to your game. He’s the captain and talks to everyone. It makes it easier when everyone is communicating and helping each other.”
And Engels used his time with the Belgium squad to seek out the two players who had previously worked with Brendan Rodgers to get some insight into his new manager at Celtic.
“I know the manager here has worked with some of the Belgium national team (former Leicester City players Youri Tielemans and Timothy Castagne). I spoke to them as well and they all say they enjoyed working under him. It was all positive.”
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6 weeks ago
Not a few