Celtic's poor recruitment is one of the reasons they find themselves in a tough spot right now. Yes, they did not show enough ambition this summer. But that cannot be said about the previous one. They broke their transfer record and it cost them north of £25 million to bring in Arne Engels, Adam Idah and Auston Trusty.
Idah has already left the club for Swansea City. The other two can't get into the starting XI. Engels is behind Benjamin Nygren, who was signed from FC Nordsjaelland for around £1.5 million, about a sixth of what it cost Celtic to sign the Belgian midfielder.
On the other hand, Trusty finds himself behind Liam Scales in the pecking order. The Irishman was signed from Shamrock Rovers for about a twelfth of what it took to bring the American international to Glasgow.
Coming back to the matter of Engels. He is Celtic's record signing. But a year later, he cannot get a start in a game of importance. That has how bad it has gotten for the Belgian international. And Brendan Rodgers has told him what needs to change for him to get back into the team.
Brendan Rodgers makes worrying claim about big Celtic signing
As reported by CeltsAreHere, Rodgers said when talking about Engels on BBC Radio Scotland:
"Arne’s role in the squad is very, very important.
“I don’t think there are too many players, if any, that will be to cement their place in the team.
“But, of course, it’s one where Benji (Nygren) has played in front of him this season, more because of his goal threat. We lost goals out of our team. A lot of goals.
“And Arne hasn’t scored as many goals as, say, what Nygren has done in his career. He is a player who affects, creates goals and scores goals.
“So, for Arne, he just needs to continue what he is doing and provide the goal threat. He works hard. He gives us other qualities that we need within our squad."
Engels has shown flashes of quality here and there. But he needs to be doing a lot more if he is to justify the transfer fee that the club paid to sign him. He is Celtic's record signing after all.
It remains to be seen if he can develop his game to that level where he can be a starter for Celtic. But as of right now, it does not feel like he is there yet and could be on the bench for a while to come.