Martin O’Neill reveals Arne Engels did not want to play for Celtic before £22m exit

Martin O’Neill has revealed Arne Engels did not want to play in Celtic’s Champions League matches before completing his move away from the club.

The Belgian midfielder joined West Ham United in a £22million deal last week, leaving Celtic without one of their key midfielders for the crucial play-off against LASK.

O’Neill has now explained that Engels was reluctant to feature in the European ties because of concerns that an injury could jeopardise his move away from the Scottish champions.

Asked about losing Engels before the two European matches, O’Neill said via Celtic’s YouTube channel: “Of course it is. Yeah, I think that Arne wanted to go. He didn’t want to play in the matches in case he got injured. I think I said again last week that that was understandable if this is a move that he wanted to make.

“But for the football club, yeah, disappointing really because just at this moment, he’s hard to replace in the side. You know, that sort of running power that he has and that he gives us.

“So, just even for these two games, that is disappointing. It is what it is and it’s nothing we can do about it.”