Why did Celtic turn down £25m bid for Engels?

At the end of a transfer window when Celtic's recruitment was under the microscope, one of the most intriguing deadline day stories centred on a player staying put.

While Junior Adamu, Benjamin Arthur and Joel Mvuka arrived on loan, the Premiership champions rejected Nottingham Forest's pursuit of Arne Engels.

After making bids of £14m and £17m, Forest returned with a final offer rising to £25m for the Belgian midfielder, with plenty of eyebrows raised at the decision to knock back a huge fee for the 22-year-old.

Cashing in on talent has been a key part of Celtic's financial model in recent years, with similar sums banked from the sales of Kieran Tierney, Jota and Matt O'Riley. This time, when the money was on the table, the Premiership champions declined to take it and Engels will remain at Celtic as his side look to beat Hearts and Rangers to the title.

So what was different this time?

Engels arrived in Glasgow at the end of the summer transfer window in 2024 and was hailed as a signing of "real quality" by then Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers.

After all, the club had just forked out a record fee, widely reported at £11m.

The 20-year-old midfielder was a player on the rise, with more than 50 Bundesliga appearances for Augsburg under his belt and a first Belgium call-up to his name after playing for his country at every youth level.

Rodgers talked up Engels' wide range of attributes, his energy and technical ability, and the Northern Irishman felt Celtic had snapped up a player with the potential to grow into a real star.

His first season brought 10 goals and 13 assists as he helped Celtic to the league title, League Cup and knockout stage of the Champions League. This term, he has scored five and created seven in a side that has struggled to hit their previous heights.

Those numbers and Engels' overall performances were enough to persuade Forest that he could be an asset for a team at the wrong end of the Premier League table. Celtic, however, clearly feel he has a vital contribution to make in the tightest Premiership title race in years.

While a fee rising to £25m would have seen a significant return on that investment, it's not comparable to the sale of home-grown talent Tierney, or the margin from smaller fees paid for Jota and O'Riley.

Though it's true that Scottish clubs aren't routinely in a position where they can turn down huge fees, Celtic's problem in recent years has been spending money rather than banking it.

The club's most recent accounts showed cash in hand of just over £77m and there has been anger in the club's support that more hasn't been invested on the pitch.

As attractive as Forest's offer might have been to the Parkhead board, the reality was that selling Engels may have proven too costly in other ways.

There's been plenty written about how the club has struggled to improve the squad over the past two windows and anxiety grew throughout January as rivals made additions.

Scrambling to replace an almost ever-present midfielder in the final hours of the window would have been a desperate task.

Given the recent failings in finding replacements for Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicolas Kuhn, an unhappy hat-trick would have seen an under-fire board on the receiving end of supporter anger once again.

Had Forest moved earlier in the window, or upped their initial bids more quickly, they may have been more successful in their approach. Whether they moved late in the month because they had been unsuccessful with other targets isn't clear, but the English side contacted Celtic at the wrong time.

The club's plans for January had already been hit by the departure of Wilfried Nancy after his disastrous short spell as head coach, and the Frenchman's departure was followed by the sacking of head of football operations Paul Tidsdale.

Martin O'Neill and Shaun Maloney didn't just have the job of turning the team around when they returned – they had to put together a list of transfer targets in a hurry.

O'Neill has spent a lot of time batting away questions about when reinforcements would arrive, joking that he was seeing journalists' faces in his sleep as they repeated familiar questions.

The manager was much more direct when asked about the the board's decision to reject the Engels offer.

"For here, that's an awful lot of money," he said. "Personally, I'm delighted that the board turned it down.

"It's really tempting and it's come at a very late stage, I must admit, so real great credit to them.

"Arne didn't kick up a fuss about it either.

"We can look at things again in the summer but obviously that was a major statement."

Selling Engels without bringing in a replacement would have left O'Neill short on midfield options at a time when he is trying to take the fight to league leaders Hearts and resurgent Rangers. It's not too fanciful to imagine that he would have made his feelings crystal clear to the Celtic hierarchy when told about Forest's interest.

Club captain Callum McGregor remains a standout and leader in the centre of the park, while summer signing Benjamin Nygren has contributed goals and creativity. But Reo Hatate has not been anywhere near his energetic best this season and Paulo Bernardo has now been at Celtic for two-and-a-half years and looks no closer to establishing himself as a starter.

The cover simply wasn't there to let Engels move as Celtic fight for the Premiership trophy, compete for the Scottish Cup and look to get past Stuttgart in the Europa League.

O'Neill is happy and it remains to be seen if the episode impacts Engels, who cuts a calm and composed figure on and off the pitch.

Supporters, however, seemed split on whether the decision was good business, or an opportunity missed.

Paul: Notts Forest management must have been on something if they think Engels is a £25m player. He's yet to convince he's an £11m player at Celtic.

Walter: Best bit of business was keeping Engels, who is really coming into his own at the moment.

Vince: Usual rubbish! The worst part was not letting Engels go. That tells you how incompetent the hierarchy of the club are. Mainly loan deals for unknown players and in the meantime they could have doubled their profit on Engels and had cover. Now they have another disgruntled player. Did they not learn from the Maeda saga last year?

Gordon: Personally I am amazed the board resisted the temptation to take the £25m for Engels - it's what 'the player development model' dictates we should do - but I think they genuinely feared the "lack of ambition" backlash.

Kevin: Holding on to Engels made a statement. Hopefully Martin now has the team strength to sneak the League and Cup then a rebuild for next season.

Andy: Shocked we didn't let Engels go, I doubt we'll get an offer like £25m again for him.

Mike: I'd have understood if we took £25m for Engels. Other than his set-piece delivery, I'm not sure he's justified our initial outlay on him. But if Martin O'Neill says he needs him, that's good enough for me.